1st European woman walks in space

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti became the first European female spacewalker on July 21, when she completed a seven-hour spacewalk outside of the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.

The event was also the first time in nearly 25 years that any European participated in a Russian-operated spacewalk. The duo spent 7 hours and 5 minutes configuring a new robotic arm for the Russian segment of the space station and deploying several small satellites.

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