NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara missed the total solar eclipse Photos
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara was prepared for her first spacewalk — but not for the view.
All went well, O'Hara shared with reporters at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, a success she attributed to hours of training with her spacewalking partner.
Nothing compares to the feeling of stepping outside, of being in your own little spacesuit looking at Earth, just through your helmet bubble," O'Hara told Space.
NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU, spacesuits were designed in the 1970s when the only humans flying to space were male
The newer generation of spacesuits (of which there are many designs, made by private contractors for the ISS and future Artemis program
Though back on Earth by then, O'Hara didn't see totality in person due to a slight delay in landing that pushed back her arrival to JSC from her landing zone
"I know they got a good show on space station," O'Hara said in response to a Space.com question, adding that she slightly regretted not seeing the eclipse.
That said, the sun was evident in other ways during her tenure in space; auroras sparked by high solar activity were a regular sight.
The friend "shared a video of a baby octopus hatching on the sea floor there," O'Hara recalled.