CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An astronaut who missed out on the first all-female spacewalk because of a spacesuit sizing issue got her chance six years later Thursday.

NASA’s Anne McClain emerged from the International Space Station alongside Nichole Ayers. Both military officers and pilots, they launched to the orbiting lab in March to replace NASA’s two stuck astronauts, who are now back home.

Minutes before floating out, McClain noticed strands of string on the index finger of her right glove. Mission Control briefly delayed the start of the spacewalk to make sure her glove was safe.

Outside for nearly six hours, the spacewalkers prepared the station for another new set of solar panels and moved an antenna on the 260-mile-high complex.

They were welcomed back inside by the space station’s commander, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi.

The space station had to be raised into a slightly higher orbit Wednesday evening to avoid space junk: part of a 20-year-old Chinese rocket.

— The Associated Press