Editing Extravehicular activity (section)

===Capability milestones===
* The first untethered spacewalk was made by American [[Bruce McCandless II]] on February 7, 1984, during the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'']] mission [[STS-41-B]], using the [[Manned Maneuvering Unit]]. He was subsequently joined by [[Robert L. Stewart]] during the 5-hour, 55-minute spacewalk. A self-contained spacewalk was first attempted by [[Eugene Cernan]] in 1966 on [[Gemini 9A]], but Cernan could not reach the maneuvering unit without tiring.
* The first metalwork in open space, consisting of welding, brazing and metal spraying, was conducted by Soviet cosmonauts [[Svetlana Savitskaya]] and [[Vladimir Dzhanibekov]] on July 25, 1984. A specially designed multipurpose tool was used to perform these activities during a 3-hour, 30-minute EVA outside the Salyut 7 space station.<ref name="Salyut7Welding1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/salt7ep4.htm|title=Encyclopedia Astronautica Salyut 7 EP-4|publisher=Astronautix.com|author=Mark Wade|access-date=November 18, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111213510/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/salt7ep4.htm|archive-date=November 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Salyut7Welding2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.aws.org/about/time_by5.html|title=A pictorial history of welding as seen through the pages of the Welding Journal|publisher=American Welding Society|access-date=November 18, 2011|archive-date=April 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418151442/http://www.aws.org/about/time_by5.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Salyut7Welding3">{{Cite web|url=http://ruspace.blogspot.com/2009/07/space-welding-anniversary.html|title=Space welding anniversary|date=July 16, 2009|access-date=November 18, 2011|publisher=RuSpace.com}}</ref>
* The first three-person EVA was performed on May 13, 1992, as the third EVA of [[STS-49]], the maiden flight of ''[[Space Shuttle Endeavour|Endeavour]]''.<ref name="sts49">{{Cite web|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-49/mission-sts-49.html|title=STS-49|access-date=December 7, 2007|publisher=NASA|year=2001|author=NASA|archive-date=February 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217182153/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-49/mission-sts-49.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Pierre J. Thuot|Pierre Thuot]], [[Richard Hieb]], and [[Thomas Akers]] conducted the EVA to hand-capture and repair a non-functional [[Intelsat]] VI-F3 [[satellite]]. {{As of|2021}} it was the only three-person EVA.<ref>[http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/spacesuits/facts/facts-index.html Facts about spacesuits and spacewalks (NASA.gov)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603133402/http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/spacesuits/facts/facts-index.html |date=2013-06-03 }}</ref>
* The first EVA to perform an [[STS-114#In-flight repair|in-flight repair of the Space Shuttle]] was by American [[Stephen Robinson|Steve Robinson]] on August 3, 2005, during "Return to Flight" mission [[STS-114]]. Robinson was sent to remove two protruding gap fillers from [[Space Shuttle Discovery|''Discovery'']]'s heat shield, after engineers determined there was a small chance they could affect the shuttle upon re-entry. Robinson successfully removed the loose material while ''Discovery'' was docked to the [[International Space Station]].
* The longest spacewalk is 9 hours and six minutes performed by [[Cai Xuzhe]] and [[Song Lingdong]] on December 17, 2024.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://english.news.cn/20241218/c7b6f2f3a13445b9a8da0084287dd047/c.html|title=Update: Shenzhou-19 crew completes first extravehicular activities|access-date=2024-12-17|work=[[Xinhua News Agency]]|date=2024-12-17|author=Huaxia}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The previous record was held by U.S. astronauts [[James S. Voss|James Voss]] and [[Susan Helms]], who made eight hours and 56 minutes EVA outside [[Space Shuttle Discovery]] on March 11, 2001.<ref>{{Cite web
 | author = Guinness World Records
 | title = Longest spacewalk
 | url = https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/66075-longest-spacewalk
 | website = Guinness World Records
 | access-date = 2024-12-18
}}</ref>


[[File:Bruce McCandless II during EVA in 1984.jpg|thumb|right|Untethered U.S. astronaut [[Bruce McCandless II|Bruce McCandless]] uses a [[manned maneuvering unit]]. Photo taken by [[Robert L. Gibson|Robert "Hoot" Gibson]].]]
[[File:Three Crew Members Capture Intelsat VI - GPN-2000-001035.jpg|thumb|Capture of Intelsat VI in 1992 on [[STS-49]]. This hand-capture of a satellite is the only EVA to date to be performed by three astronauts.]]