Spacesuit power problem cuts short spacewalk

Wednesday's spacewalk outside of the International Space Station was cut short after Oleg Artemyev experienced an electrical problem with his spacesuit.

Moscow Mission Control ordered Artemyev back to the airlock after he reported a voltage fluctuation in the battery power for his Orlan spacesuit.

"Drop everything and start going back right away!" Vladimir Solovyov, a former cosmonaut and the flight director for the space station's Russian segment, radioed to Artemyev. "Oleg, go back and connect to station power."

Although Artemyev was not in any immediate danger, were his spacesuit's power to cut off completely, he would have also lost the ability to communicate with his fellow spacewalker, Denis Matveev, and flight controllers on the ground until he was able to plug back into the station's power supply.

"I think we need some solar panels on the Orlans so we can recharge during the [extravehicular activity]," Artemyev said after reentering the airlock almost two and a half hours into the planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.

Before their outing was curtailed, Artemyev and Matveev had successfully installed two cameras on the elbow areas on the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and removed thermal insulation and a launch restraint from one of the two end effectors or "hands" at opposite ends of the arm.

After waiting for the robotic arm to be maneuvered to its stowed configuration, Matveev joined Artemyev back inside the airlock, marking an end to their excursion. The spacewalk was completed at 1:54 p.m. EDT (1754 GMT), 4 hours and 1 minute after it began.

This was the seventh spacewalk for the year and 252nd supporting the assembly, upgrade and maintenance of the International Space Station since 1998. It was the seventh EVA for Artemyev, who now has logged 45 hours and 45 minutes working the vacuum of space, and the third for Matveev, who has spent 18 hours and 20 minutes on spacewalks.