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Spacewalking astronaut

Space walking astronaut in the Early days of Human space exploration.

A space walk or EVA (Extravehicular Activity) referred to being in space outside the hull of a starship or space station and was usually in zero gravity. (ENT: "Minefield", "The Council"; Star Trek: First Contact)

Space walks required an environmental suit, also known as an EV suit or a life support belt, though occasionally certain crewmen or members of certain species are able to go without. For instance, Lieutenant Commander Data, an android, and The Doctor, a hologram, are able to perform in many environments where most Starfleet crewmen could not. (VOY: "Basics, Part I"; Star Trek Nemesis)

Lunaport, in the Sol system, contained an EV simulator that was nicknamed by Earth Starfleet trainees: "The Vomitorium." (ENT: "The Catwalk")

A team engaging in a spacewalk might be known as a EV team. (ENT: "Similitude")

The drawings sent by students of Miss Malvin's fourth grade class of Worley Elementary School to the crew of Enterprise NX-01 in 2151 depict space-walking astronauts making first contacts. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice")

Hawk Picard and Worf in space

Hawk, Picard and Worf on a space walk

In 2373/2063, when the crew of the USS Enterprise-E found out that that the Borg that had infested the ship were outside on the hull building an interplexing beacon on the ship's deflector dish, Captain Jean-Luc Picard asked Lieutenant Commander Worf if he had remembered his zero-gravity combat training. Worf revealed it made him sick to his stomach. Despite this, Picard, Worf and Lieutenant Hawk went onto the hull to stop the Borg. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Space walks were taught at Starfleet Academy in a six-week long course during the third year. It was aimed at preparing cadets for walking in space in their space suits. In 2374, Lieutenants B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris were forced to evacuate their shuttlecraft, shortly before it was destroyed, by putting on their EV suits and beaming into space. Torres, who had never finished the Academy, felt queasy floating around in space, saying it was nothing like the simulations done before the course. In 2380, Ensign D'Vana Tendi confessed to Sam Rutherford that she never finished the course when she was at the Academy but somehow was given B grade. She didn't question it at the time and eventually came to the conclusion that it was most likely a clerical error. (VOY: "Day of Honor"; LD: "Terminal Provocations")

This kind of activity can have its own kind of hazards. For instance, a team from the USS Cerritos was performing EVA work while Captain Carol Freeman received a distress call and left to respond to it without recalling the team, leaving them stranded in orbit with no resources outside their suits' life support. By the time the Cerritos returned to collect them, the team's suits were almost fatally depleted. (LD: "I, Excretus")

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Space walking is known as Extravehicular activity (EVA), in the real world, but this terminology has not been used on screen in a Star Trek production, although several scripts use the proper real-world term, and EV has been used in relation to space suits.

Footage of astronauts spacewalking is featured in the opening credits of Star Trek: Enterprise.

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