A spacewalk outside the International Space Station was trim short this morning when trajectory engineer Luca Parmitano noticed a water leak inside his helmet . “ My head is really wet and I have a tactile sensation it ’s increasing , ” the Italian astronaut told Johnson Space Center in Houston , about an minute into the missionary work . The outflow get worse . presently , both he and spacewalk partner Chris Cassidy were ordered back aboard the ISS .
accord todialogue between Parmitano , Cassidy and delegacy controll(dialogue that ’ll make your palms sweat ) , at least half a liter of pee had leaked into Parmitano ’s helmet by the prison term he care to get to the ISS airlock . That might not sound like a lot , but it ’s significant to call back that water behaves very differently in microgravity , cling to cutis , hair’s-breadth , and – in Parmitano ’s case – theeyes , olfactory organ and mouth . As more and more water leak into the helmet , it became more and more difficult for Parmitano to see , utter and hear . The following tweet from Space Shuttle Almanac really ride this home for us :
watch over what happens when you wring out a washrag in space
Chris Hadfield present us why it ’s uncomfortable to outcry in space
LIVE#ISS#Exp36#spacewalkImagine possess a fishbowl on your head with a half a l of pee sticking to your human face , ears and olfactory organ . ( 1/2 )
— Space Shuttle Almanac ( @ShuttleAlmanac)July 16 , 2013
LIVE#ISS#Exp36#spacewalk(2/2 ) then imagine you ca nt take the fishbowl off your head for a lower limit of 20 hour , feel the affright ?
Yes . All the panic .
as luck would have it , Cassidy and Parmitano both managed to get on the ISS quickly and safely , where they were received by Karen Nyberg , Pavel Vinogradov and Fyodor Yurchikhin , all of whom assist in an “ expedited suit doff ” for Parmitano .
This was to be the 2d 6–7 60 minutes spacewalk for Cassidy and Parmitano this calendar month , during which the pair was scheduled to replace exterior tv camera , reroute cables and do other routine criminal maintenance . At 1 hour , 32 minutes , today ’s spacewalk is the second - shortest in 171 spacewalks outside the ISS . The shortest : a 14 - minute EVA conducted on June 24 , 2004 , when pressure problem in astronaut Mike Fincke ’s spacesuit brought the mission to an almost immediate conclusion .
[ NASA|Spaceflight Now ]
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