NASA astronaut explains cause of helmet leak that aborted spacewalk
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Two weeks after NASA aborted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station when up to 1.5 liters of 鈥渇unny-tasting鈥 water leaked into Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano鈥檚 helmet, Maj. Parmitano鈥檚 spacewalk partner has released a video explaining what caused the leak that morning.
The spacewalk on the morning of July 16聽was aborted 92 minutes into what was supposed to be a more than six-hour mission, after water began accumulating in Parmitano鈥檚 helmet from a then-unknown source. By the time that Parmitano was helped back into the ISS, about 1 to 1.5 liters of water had formed globs in the helmet, such that he could not hear, speak, or see.
In the video, US astronaut Chris Cassidy, explains from on-board the ISS that the water originated in the suit's cooling system and leaked into the ventilation system. Holding Parmitano鈥檚 helmet, Cmdr. Cassidy shows its white plastic back where the water began to seep in as a giant bubble. The water then flowed to fill in the astronaut鈥檚 ears and then came around to the front of the helmet to leak into his eyes, nose, and mouth, Cassidy explains.
鈥淚f it had continued to leak much more, it would have been really serious,鈥 he says, adding that NASA engineers are still investigating what went wrong with Parmitano鈥檚 cooling system.
NASA officials had almost immediately pinpointed the spacesuit鈥檚 cooling system as the origin of the water, ruling out the 32-ounce drinking-water bag. The cooling system holds about a gallon of water tinged with iodine to prevent bacteria buildup. The iodine could explain the 鈥渇unny鈥 water taste that Parmitano had reported, NASA officials said at a conference held just after the incident.
鈥淲e have not seen a problem like this before,鈥 said Karina Eversley, a NASA spacewalk officer, at the time, adding that drowning or choking was a real possibility had the mission not been expediently terminated. 鈥淭his was a very serious issue.鈥
The scheduled walk was the second of two that the astronaut pair had planned to make outside the space station. The two astronauts had spent six hours and seven minutes outside a week earlier to make repairs on the station and to prepare it for a Russian module to dock there and had planned to finish the remaining work the July 16th聽walk.
Parmitano was wearing the same suit on the aborted walk that he wore during the previous walk, which went as planned.