Trump gets fact-checked from space after he wrongly tells ISS female astronauts they are 'first women to spacewalk'
President Donald Trump was fact-checked by female astronauts from space on Friday after he contacted the International Space Station (ISS) to congratulate Jessica Meir and Christina Koch for completing their all-female spacewalk outside of the craft.
The president reportedly commended the two women for being the "first-ever female spacewalkers" but Meir promptly chimed in and corrected him, saying they weren't the first females to walk in space. The first woman to complete a spacewalk was Russian astronaut Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya in 1984, and since then more than 14 women have followed suit.
The incident occurred when Trump addressed Meir and Koch while sitting at a table between his daughter Ivanka Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. He was also surrounded by NASA officials and a group of Girl Scouts at the White House.
Trump, while staring into the camera, said: "This is the first time for a woman outside of the space station. You are amazing people; they're conducting the first-ever female spacewalk to replace an exterior part of the space station. They're doing some work, and they're doing it in a very high altitude — an altitude that very few people will ever see."
Meir was then heard correcting the president as she explained to him that October 18 marked the first time two women spacewalked at the same time. "This is the first time that there have been two women outside at the same time," the astronaut said.
Meir and Koch left the ISS at 07:38 am ET (12:38pm BST) on Friday to begin the first all-female spacewalk. They set out to fix a broken part of the station's solar power network. Reports state that the pair moved the space station's P6 truss at the far end to begin work, where they replaced a failed power controller. The event, a landmark moment for female astronauts and scientists, was live-streamed by NASA.
An all-female spacewalk was previously scheduled for March this year, however, one of the astronauts was replaced by a male because her spacesuit did not fit her properly. Kathy Sullivan, the first American female spacewalker, also watched the event and said that she was delighted by Friday's milestone. Sullivan had spacewalked 35 years ago.
A statement was also released by NASA, saying: "Our achievements provide inspiration to students around the world, proving that hard work can lead you to great heights, and all students should be able to see themselves in those achievements."