News In Brief

Sullivan takes first stride in space for American woman

Astronaut Kathy Sullivan became America's first woman spacewalker Thursday, declaring, ''This is really great,'' as she and a male colleague floated outside the shuttle Challenger and tested tools and techniques for refueling spent satellites.

Ms. Sullivan was the second woman in history to venture outside a spacecraft into the vacuum of space. Svetlana Savitskaya of the Soviet Union was the first when she worked outside the orbiting Salyut space station last July.