Top 5 Facts: Spacewalks

1. Not for everyone
While more than 500 astronauts have been in space over the past 50 years, only just over 200 of them have actually performed a spacewalk or moonwalk.

2. The waiting game
Once an astronaut is securely in their EVA suit, they can’t immediately go out into space, but instead must spend an hour acclimatising to the pressure in the airlock.

3. Loaded
As of 2012 seven space tourists have paid £15.5 million ($25 million) each to be transported to the ISS, spend a week on board and perform a spacewalk.

4. Cutting the cord
For untethered spacewalks a special EVA suit is used, known as a manned manoeuvring unit (MMU). These use a variety of gaseous nitrogen nozzles to propel the wearer about.

5. Elite
To date the only space agencies that have successfully demonstrated an ability to conduct spacewalks are NASA (USA), CNSA (China) and the FKA (Russia).