The first all-female spacewalk is to take place later this month, 35 years after a woman first took part in one.

The US space agency Nasa said astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain will walk outside the International Space Station on 29 March on a mission to replace batteries installed last summer.

They will receive ground support from flight director Mary Lawrence and Kristen Facciol of the Canadian Space Agency in Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.