Helmet Leak Forces NASA to Scrub EVA

A leak in the helmet of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, his country's first astronaut to walk in space,

forced NASA to terminate Tuesday's EVA.

The leak in question was a water leak in  Parmitano's helmet that grew progressively worse an hour into the EVA.  The leak was believed to be a tube in Luca's helmet leading to his water pouch, but NASA feels the leak in the helmet was “not readily identifiable.”

Luca initially mentioned the rise in humidity in the helmet, making it difficult to see at times. But as the water was pooing in the back of the helmet, NASA felt it was ok to continue with the mission.  But when he complained of water getting into his eyes, NASA advised Parmitano to  prceed to the airlock as they were terminating the EVA immediately.

According to Universe Today "At one point, there was so much water inside Parmitano’s ears and around his face that he couldn’t hear or speak to communicate with the other astronauts."

Once back inside the ISS, the crew, after removing Parmitano's helmet, reported that he was miserable but suffered no other ill effects.

Improptu Space Walk on the ISS, a First for NASA!

Spurred by a recent Ammonia leak, astronauts aboard the ISS took the uncharacteristic action of instituting an EVA Saturday with the plan of finding the leak that if left unchecked, would leave the station without power in a few short hours. 

Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy, prepped for the walk shortly after the discovered leak on Thursday and exited the station Saturday, proceeded to the source of the leak where they replaced a suspected pump, in a closely scrutinized five plus hour EVA.  

NASA is still unclear as to the cause of the leak so  it remained unclear whether the issue had been entirely resolved.   (note yellow circles in top photo show Ammonia flakes streaming from the unknown leak)

More on the c/net article site

Suit Malf could have been 'naut's last first....

Ok, so I opt for a cheesy head line, but the thing is that the more people become blase about the ISS and space walks etc....the more we are reminded just how hostile the environment these people work in and just how close to the edge they are ever second. Here is what happened.

Astronaut Chris Cassidy on his first space mission during his first E.V.A. had something happen that very well could have been his last, anything.

For us oldtimers that experienced the ill fated Apollo mission number 13 know just how insidiously dangerous excess CO2 can be. Not only did that crew have to experience a mission ending explosion, lack of power and near freezing temperatures, they also faced slowly suffocating in their own exhaled waste due to lack of capacity and system incompatibility. The insidious part is that if someone had not been on their game, that crew would never even known it was happening until it was too late.

And that was almost what happened to astronaut Cassidy. His lithium hydroxide CO2 scrubber broke, allowing the lethal gas to build up to dangerous levels. What's more, Cassidy didn't notice any apparent effect, but the spacewalk came to a sudden ending after Houston noticed that things weren't right at all inside his suit. This according to a recent article in Gizmodo.

For the complete Gizmodo article click here

Astronauts Will Assemble Robot in Space

From Wired: Astronauts on the next Endeavour launch will be doing something that smacks of science fiction. They will be assembling a giant robot in space! On their 16 day mission, shuttle astronauts will spend 3 out of 5 space walks assembling Canadian Space Agency's Dextre - short for dexterous and pronounced like Dexter. Dextre is a two-armed space station robot with 11-foot arms, a shoulder span of nearly 8 feet and a height of 12 feet and weighing in at 3,400-pounds. Equipped with a tool holster, Dextre is designed to assist spacewalking astronauts and, ultimately, to take over some of their dangerous outdoor work. Dextre can pivot at the waist, and has seven joints per arm. Its hands, or grippers, have built-in socket wrenches, cameras and lights. Only one arm is designed to move at a time to keep the robot stable and avoid a two-arm collision.