Meaning & use
spacewalk
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Meanings
nouncountable
A period when an astronaut moves and works outside a spacecraft while in space.
Grammar: Countable: a spacewalk, two spacewalks. Often used with go on or perform.
Patterns
- go on a spacewalk
- perform a spacewalk
- during a spacewalk
The crew performed a six-hour spacewalk to repair the antenna.
Her first spacewalk was the most frightening moment of the mission.
During the spacewalk, the astronaut attached a new camera to the station.
verbintransitive
To go outside a spacecraft and move around in space.
Grammar: No object; used mainly in news reports. The noun is far more common.
Patterns
- spacewalk for something
- spacewalk outside something
Two astronauts spacewalked for over seven hours to install the module.
They spacewalked outside the station to retrieve a broken tool.
Word forms
| plural | spacewalks |
|---|---|
| third person singular | spacewalks |
| past tense | spacewalked |
| past participle | spacewalked |
| -ing form | spacewalking |
Common combinations
- go on a spacewalk
- The astronauts went on a spacewalk to fix the solar panel.
- perform a spacewalk
- She performed a spacewalk lasting five hours.
- during a spacewalk
- He lost a tool during a spacewalk last year.
- spacewalk outside the station
- They spacewalked outside the station to test new equipment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- EVA
- Extravehicular activity, the technical term used by NASA; spacewalk is the everyday word.
Word family
- spacewalker noun
- An astronaut who goes on a spacewalk.
- space noun
- The region beyond Earth's atmosphere.
Commonly confused: spacewalk or walk in space?
spacewalk vs walk in space
This is a descriptive phrase, not a set term; spacewalk is the established noun.
Practice
The astronaut went on a ______ to repair the satellite.
Choose one answer.
Spacewalk is the standard one-word noun; space walk and space-walk are not standard, and spacewalking is the -ing form, which does not fit after 'a'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “spacewalk”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.