WATCH: Jewish astronaut makes history in first all-female spacewalk

A Jewish astronaut is helping make history in the first all-female spacewalk, which began at 11.30am on Friday morning.

Jessica Meir, who is Swedish-American-Israeli and has been living in space since September, joined the historic excursion outside the International Space Station in what was her first spacewalk.

Meir was joined by fellow flight engineer Christina Koch for the five and a half hour trip broadcast live on NASA TV and the US space agency’s website.

Meir tweeted on Wednesday that she was “gearing up” for Friday’s spacewalk, sharing two pictures which she quipped were her “first spacesuit selfie.”

Koch and Meir, who were initially set to make the trip later this month, are replacing a power controller that failed during the weekend, NASA revealed.

An all-woman spacewalk was cancelled in March after Ann McClain could not participate following safety issues with the ill-fitting suit.