International Space Station astronauts Luca Parmitano from Italy and NASA’s Chris Cassidy were in the first hour of a scheduled six-hour spacewalk today when Parmitano began complaining his head felt wet, and realized there was water floating in his helmet. Just a quick reminder: When you’re in space, there should not be water floating inside your helmet. NASA cut the spacewalk short as Parmitano reported that the situation was worsening.
When they scrubbed the spacewalk, the ground control team at Johnson Space Center told Parmitano to move back to the airlock while Cassidy cleaned up the equipment before joining him. Parmitano had to wait for Cassidy to enter the airlock before it could be repressurized and he could remove his leaky helmet.
What exactly caused the leak isn’t yet known, but it’s safe to assume there will be an investigation to find out. The water in Parmitano’s helmet didn’t pose an immediate threat, but the team used caution and ended the spacewalk before it became a bigger problem.
The Associated Press has video from the live feed of the spacewalk where ground control is communicating with Cassidy and Parmitano:
Both men are back inside the ISS safely, and none of the tasks they were scheduled to complete during the spacewalk were urgent and will be rescheduled.
(via NASA, image via NASA HQ Photo)
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