(CNN) Flying toward hurricanes is their job, but when they took off over the weekend, they were making history.

As part of the first hurricane hunting mission piloted by an all-female flight crew, Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Waddington and Captain Kristie Twining's flight to Hawaii marked a major milestone for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The female pilots regularly fly above and around hurricanes at more than 40,000 feet. When they flew toward Hurricane Hector in Hawaii on Sunday, it was the first time two female pilots had shared a cockpit on a NOAA hurricane mission.

"While we are very proud to have made history yesterday by being the first all-female flight crew, we are more proud of the mission we are doing and the safety we are providing for people," said Waddington, who has been a pilot with the NOAA Corps for eight years.

Since the NOAA Hurricane Hunters program began in the 1960s, no two women had ever piloted a plane together, according to NOAA public affairs officer David Hall.

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