Spacewalks outside the International Space Station will resume after NASA briefly halted all such activities to address a problem that caused water to build in one astronaut’s helmet.
Matthias Maurer, a European Space Agency astronaut, spent nearly seven hours outside the orbiting science lab with NASA partner Raja Churi on March 23 to prepare for the installation of a solar array for the station’s microgravity hub.
When Maurer returned to the spacecraft, her Expedition 66 crewmate Kayla Barron reported to mission control that the visor of the Euro spaceman’s helmet was slippery with water and raced to assist him in getting out of his spacesuit.
Although Maurer was not in imminent danger, NASA officials called the blunder a “near call” and canceled all planned spacewalks. His spacesuit, helmet, and water samples were returned to Earth for examination in the hopes of determining why moisture gathered during the spacewalk.
Seven months later, NASA has determined that there were no hardware malfunctions in Maurer’s spacesuit. Astronauts will be able to do spacewalks once more.
“The reason of the water in the helmet was likely related to integrated system performance,” NASA said last week. “Several variables such as crew effort and crew cooling settings contributed to the formation of considerably greater than typical volumes of condensation inside the system.”
Engineers created devices to prevent moisture from condensing inside the helmet’s surfaces and to absorb water if it does. In addition, astronauts have changed operational protocols to reduce dangers during future spacewalks.
“Crew safety is NASA and our foreign partners’ top concern,” said Kathryn Lueders, assistant administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “I’m pleased of the space station and ground teams’ efforts to keep our crew members safe, for taking the time needed to complete the inquiry, and for constantly looking for methods to reduce hazards in human spaceflight.”
In 2013, astronaut Luca Parmitano was forced to abort a spacewalk when roughly 1.5 litres of water collected inside his spacesuit and helmet. Parmitano experienced difficulty seeing, hearing, or breathing since water was in his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He said that he returned to the crew hatch “from memory” – because astronauts are terrible jerks. An inquiry revealed that the leak was caused by a clogged filter.
