European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake stepped outside the International Space Station on Friday, becoming the first to walk in space wearing the British flag.
“Exhilarated — but no time to dwell on emotions,” Peake tweeted Thursday, before the big moment.
Peake, 43, was accompanied by U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra on the extravehicular activity (EVA) to replace a failed power regulator, install a valve and attach cables outside of the station, according to the space agency.
The ESA live-tweeted the spacewalk with a blow-by-blow description of the astronaut’s moving along the station’s truss, unbolting the failed regulator and installing its replacement.
The spacewalk was expected to last a little more than six hours, according to the ESA.
While Peake becomes the first astronaut to walk in space as a British astronaut, Michael Foale — a dual U.S. and British citizen — was the first person born in Britain to walk in space in 1995.
Foale, however, was an astronaut for NASA, not the European program.