![]() |
Alexei Leonov EVA astronaut No 1 |
The first woman to make a spacewalk was the Soviet woman cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya. July 25, 1984 Savitskaya went into open space from the station Salyut-7. The first American woman was Kathryn Sullivan - October 11, 1984, he went out from the space shuttle Challenger. The first cosmonaut from a third country (not from the USSR / Russia or the US) who made a spacewalk was French cosmonaut Jean-Loup Chretien.
![]() |
Edward White EVA astronaut No 2 |
Chrétien made his spacewalk on December 9, 1988 from the space station Mir under the Soviet program in a Soviet space suit.
Chretien was the first French cosmonaut to go into outer space. The first foreign astronaut, who went into open space
under the American program in an American space suit, was Japanese astronaut Takao Doi.
He went out on November 25, 1997 from the space shuttle Columbia. Doi became the first Japanese astronaut to go into open space.
To date, 24 foreign astronauts have made their spacewalk under the American program in American spacesuits and
19 foreign cosmonauts under the Russian program in Russian suits.
The first American astronaut, who went out in to outer space under a Russian program in a Russian space suit, was Jerry Linenger. On April 29, 1997, he made his spacewalk from the Mir station. The first Russian cosmonaut, who went out into open space under the American program in an American spacesuit, was Vladimir Titov. On October 1, 1997, he made his spacewalk from the space shuttle Atlantis. To date, fifteen American astronauts have made their spacewalks under the Russian program in Russian spacesuits and four Russian cosmonauts - under the American program in American spacesuits.
Since the beginning of the ISS assembly, 273 (73 in Russian spacesuits; 200 in American spacesuits) spacewalks dedicated to the ISS have been performed.
On September 27, 2008, Chinese cosmonauts Zhai Zhigang and Liu Bomin made the first spacewalk under chinese program in chinese spacesuits. China became the third country to conduct a spacewalk.
A total of 271 cosmonauts and astronauts went out into open space. Among them:
Most of the spacewalks were made by the Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Soloviev - 16 EVAs. The most cumulative spacewalk time of all spacewalks belongs also to Anatoly Solovyov - 78 hours 18 minutes. The US astronaut Peggy Whitson made 10 EVAs, more than any other women. She also owns the most cumulative time of all spacewalks among women - 60 hours 21 minutes. The longest spacewalk was made by American astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms - 8 hours 56 minutes. Until December 2024, The longest spacewalk was performed by American astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms - 8 hours 56 minutes. On December 17, 2024, Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong set a new record for the duration of a spacewalk – 9 hours and 6 minutes.