The astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) must have been in a cold sweat. One of the suits used for extravehicular outings suffered a serious water leak, forcing the crew to interrupt operations.
Although particularly heavy and bulky, space suits are essential to the survival of astronauts in the vacuum of space. NASA is also designing a new space suit, in order to replace aging models, which have changed little since the Apollo missions. Besides, ISS spacesuits would become particularly obsolete.
And, unfortunately, a member of NASA almost paid the price. Indeed, Tracy Dyson, an astronaut from the American space agency, carried out a spacewalk with his counterpart Mike Barratt. The spacewalk, which was scheduled to last approximately six and a half hours, ended prematurely after just 31 minutes.
NASA: more fear than harm
Indeed, just a few minutes after opening the ISS hatch, the astronaut noticed large quantities of water escaping from its suitnot. Without wasting any time, she declared to mission control: “ There is water everywhere “. The two astronauts then ended the mission and took refuge inside the orbiting laboratory.
NASA, however, wants to be reassuring, specifying: “ At no time were the crew in danger, but they decided to end the spacewalk because it was unclear how much water was left in the suit’s water tanks by Tracy Dyson. »
The space agency then issued an official statement: “ NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Mike Barratt are back inside the International Space Station after U.S. Spacewalk 90 ended early Monday due to a water leak in the unit service and cooling umbilical of Tracy Dyson’s spacesuit. The crew members were not put in danger by this leak. »
This is not the first incident of this type. Indeed, if Tracy Dyson’s life does not seem to have been put in danger, not everyone was so lucky. In 2013, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano came close to drowning when the helmet of his spacesuit filled with a large amount of water which hampered his breathing.
Source : digitaltrends
