Donald Trump congratulates NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir at the International Space Station ahead of first ever all-female spacewalk to repair a section outside the ISS.
Speaking from the White House, Trump hailed the work of astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who had by then spent more than four hours replacing a faulty battery component on their orbiting laboratory. Their spacewalk marked the first time two women have walked in space together.
“I just want to congratulate you, what you do is incredible,” Trump said in the call, which NASA broadcast live. “You’re very brave people. I don’t think I want to do it, I must tell you.”
“Congratulations, Christina and Jessica, on this historic event,” he added. “This is truly historic.”
WATCH: During live spacewalk call today, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir corrects President Trump for saying that the first all-female spacewalk is "the first time for a woman outside the Space Station." pic.twitter.com/2Zjk8doTG5
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 18, 2019
Trump, flanked by his daughter Ivanka Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, twice referred to Friday’s spacewalk as the first by a woman, but in fact it is the first by an all-female spacewalking team. The first woman to walk in space was Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya in 1984; NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first female American spacewalker later that year.
