NASA cancels spacewalk due to astronaut helmet leak

The Container It announced that it would suspend non-emergency spacewalk on board the ship International Space Station (ISS) while investigating why an astronaut’s helmet leaked water while walking in March.

“So that we better understand what causal factors may have been in the past [caminata espacial] With us [trajes espaciales]We are not going [caminatas espaciales] Dana Weigel, deputy program director for the International Space Station, said this week.

Weigel added that it was important for NASA to “address and rule out major system failures” in connection with the latest incident.

The said spacewalk, conducted by NASA astronaut Raja Chari and European astronaut Matthias Maurer, took place outside the International Space Station on March 23. Once Maurer returned to the station’s airlock at the end of the seven-hour journey, he discovered that water was collecting inside the Maurer hull. A preliminary investigation revealed that up to 50% of the visor was covered in water, with more found in an absorbent pad on the back of his space helmet.

Maurer’s case was not considered an emergency at the time, but it had worrisome echoes of a more serious and life-threatening episode on the space station in 2013. Because of this, NASA didn’t take any risks.

It featured Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, who nearly drowned during a spacewalk when his helmet began to absorb water.

Parmitano later said that while working outside the station, splashes of water started entering his nose, mouth and eyes, hampering his ability to see his surroundings clearly. More worryingly, however, the fluid buildup began to negatively affect her breathing.

Despite poor vision and breathing problems, Parmitano kept his calm and carefully made his way to the airlock and safety. In his case, the problem was attributed to a contaminated fan pump inside the space suit.

Fortunately, such accidents during spacewalks are rare, and so far no astronaut has been killed or seriously injured during the several hundred flights outside the station since it became operational more than two decades ago.

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