On this day in space! Oct. 11, 1984: The first American woman walks in space (Image Credit: Space.com)
On Oct. 11, 1984, NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first woman to walk in space. Sullivan, who had celebrated her 33rd birthday just 8 days before the spacewalk, conducted the history-making exercise as part of the space shuttle Challenger mission STS-41G.
The mission blasted off on October 5 and ended on Oct. 13. Sullivan was part of the first seven-person crew during the mission, which was commanded by Robert Crippen and also included mission specialist David Leetsma, the latter of whom accompanied her on the 3.5-hour spacewalk.
During the spacewalk, Sullivan and Leetsma operated a system designed to show that it is possible to refuel orbiting satellites.
Sullivan would return to space twice more. First, in April 1990, as part of the STS-31 mission, during which the space shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. Then again, in March 1992, as part of the STS-45 mission, when she served as payload commander of the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science laboratory carried by the space shuttle Atlantis.
