spacewalk

American  

[speys-wawk] / ˈspeɪsˌwɔk /

Or space walk

noun

1. a task or mission performed by an astronaut outside a spacecraft in space.

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verb (used without object)

1. to execute a task or mission outside a spacecraft in space.

spacewalk British  

/ ˈspeɪsˌwɔːk /

noun

1. Technical name: extravehicular activity.  the act or an instance of floating and manoeuvring in space, outside but attached by a lifeline to a spacecraft

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verb

1. (intr) to float and manoeuvre in space while outside but attached to a spacecraft

Other Word Forms

• spacewalker noun

Etymology

Origin of spacewalk

First recorded in 1960–65, Americanism; space + walk

Explanation

When an astronaut gets out of an orbiting spacecraft, she spacewalks. The first person to spacewalk was Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who floated outside his capsule in 1965. The verb spacewalk is precisely what you might imagine: to "walk" in space, drifting in orbit while tethered to a spacecraft. It's also a noun, the name for such an activity: "The first U.S. spacewalk occurred in 1965, when Ed White exited the Gemini spacecraft for 21 minutes." Astronauts today routinely perform spacewalks in order to repair space stations and do other outer-space maintenance tasks.

Example Sentences

Koch already holds the record for longest spaceflight by a woman -- 328 days -- and also participated in the first spacewalk performed entirely by women, alongside her colleague Jessica Meir.

From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026

Williams also completed nine spacewalks, totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, ranking as the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list.

From Science Daily • Jan. 22, 2026

The unnamed crew member is described as stable, but the incident has already led to the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk.

From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026

Astronauts would fly to the moon, perform a spacewalk, obtain samples of the boulder, and then rocket back to Earth.

From Slate • Dec. 9, 2025

March 18, 1965: Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first person in the world to make a spacewalk.

From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson