Forty years ago today, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space, stepping out of the Salyut 7 space station for a 3-hour EVA (extravehicular activity) that would mark a turning point in the history of women in space exploration.
Her mission on 25 July 1984 placed her in the record books- not only as the first woman to perform a spacewalk, but also as a symbol of how the Soviet space programme often outpaced its Western counterparts in terms of gender inclusion during the Cold War.
Savitskaya had already made headlines two years earlier, when she became the second woman in space, following in the footsteps of fellow Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who flew solo in 1963. But it was the 1984 mission that truly broke new ground. During her EVA, Savitskaya and her colleague Vladimir Dzhanibekov conducted welding experiments in the vacuum of space, a test not only of equipment, but of the capabilities of female astronauts at a time when NASA had yet to send any women on similar missions.
A legacy too often overlooked
Savitskaya’s achievement came at a time when women in the American space programme were still just beginning to emerge. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, had flown only a year earlier in 1983, and no American woman would walk in space until Kathryn Sullivan in 1984, a few months after Savitskaya’s landmark EVA.
Despite her accomplishments, Savitskaya’s name is far less well-known in the West than her male counterparts or even her predecessors. Yet her career- as a cosmonaut, pilot, and later a member of the Russian Duma- reflects a lifelong commitment to pushing boundaries and reshaping expectations.
She remains one of the few women in history to have flown in space twice, and one of an even smaller number to have completed a spacewalk. Her 1984 mission was not just about making history, but proving that gender was no barrier to scientific and technical excellence, even in the most extreme environments imaginable.
Breaking ground, in orbit
Today, spacewalks are no longer exclusive to men, but progress has been slow. The first all-female spacewalk didn’t occur until 2019, 35 years after Savitskaya’s. The fact that she accomplished such a feat in 1984 remains both extraordinary and sobering.
Her footsteps outside the Salyut 7 space station may have floated in zero gravity, but their impact landed firmly on Earth. On this day, we remember Svetlana Savitskaya, the first woman to walk in space, and honour the legacy she carved into the stars.
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