posted 07-16-2013 07:32 AM               

Astronauts conducting second July spacewalk

On Tuesday (July 16), two ISS Expedition 36 flight engineers began a spacewalk at 6:57 a.m. CDT (1157 GMT), the second of two such excursions this month to prepare the International Space Station for a new Russian module and to complete additional installations on the station's backbone truss.

Chris Cassidy of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency began the spacewalk when they switched their spacesuits to battery power.

During the scheduled six-hour, 15 minute excursion, Cassidy and Parmitano will:

• finish the installation of bypass jumpers to provide power redundancy to critical station components;
  
• route additional cables for a new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module targeted to arrive later this year;
  
• replace a video camera on the Japanese Exposed Facility experiment platform;
  
• relocate wireless television camera equipment;
  
• troubleshoot a balky door cover over electronic relay boxes on the station's truss; and
  
• reconfigure a thermal insulation over a failed electronics box that was removed from the station's truss last year.

Cassidy, who is designated EV1 for the spacewalk, is wearing a U.S. extravehicular mobility suit bearing red stripes. This spacewalk is the sixth of Cassidy's career. Parmitano, designated EV2, is wearing a spacesuit with no stripes and is making the second spacewalk of his career. He is the first Italian astronaut to walk in space.

Astronaut Shane Kimbrough at NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston provides ground support for the spacewalkers. Aboard the station, flight engineer Karen Nyberg is providing additional support during the extravehicular excursion.

posted 07-16-2013 08:07 AM               

Water leak in astronaut's helmet cuts short space station spacewalk

A scheduled six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station was cut short on Tuesday (July 16) after water began leaking into the helmet of one of the two astronauts conducting the outing.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano was working on routing an ethernet data cable outside the orbiting outpost when he first reported feeling the back of his head was getting wet. Acknowledging that he had been sweating, Parmitano said that the amount of water he was feeling exceeded what he thought he could be perspiring.

"I don't understand where it's coming from," he radioed.

posted 07-16-2013 01:10 PM               

That wouldn't have addressed the free-floating water inside Parmitano's helmet.

posted 07-30-2013 10:26 AM               

Chris Cassidy Shows Off Faulty Spacesuit

Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy discussed the ongoing efforts to solve a problem with Luca Parmitano's spacesuit during a downlink video July 30.

Cassidy demonstrated the suit and discussed some of the activities being done to troubleshoot the problem that caused water intrusion in Parmitano's helmet during a spacewalk conducted on July 16.

posted 08-21-2013 09:47 AM               

As I move back along my route towards the airlock, I become more and more certain that the water is increasing. I feel it covering the sponge on my earphones and I wonder whether I'll lose audio contact. The water has also almost completely covered the front of my visor, sticking to it and obscuring my vision. I realise that to get over one of the antennae on my route I will have to move my body into a vertical position, also in order for my safety cable to rewind normally. At that moment, as I turn 'upside-down', two things happen: the Sun sets, and my ability to see – already compromised by the water – completely vanishes, making my eyes useless; but worse than that, the water covers my nose – a really awful sensation that I make worse by my vain attempts to move the water by shaking my head. By now, the upper part of the helmet is full of water and I can't even be sure that the next time I breathe I will fill my lungs with air and not liquid. To make matters worse, I realise that I can't even understand which direction I should head in to get back to the airlock. I can't see more than a few centimetres in front of me, not even enough to make out the handles we use to move around the Station.

I try to contact Chris and Shane: I listen as they talk to each other, but their voices are very faint now: I can hardly hear them and they can't hear me. I'm alone. I frantically think of a plan. It's vital that I get inside as quickly as possible. I know that if I stay where I am, Chris will come and get me, but how much time do I have? It's impossible to know. Then I remember my safety cable. Its cable recoil mechanism has a force of around 3lb that will 'pull' me towards the left. It's not much, but it's the best idea I have: to follow the cable to the airlock. I force myself to stay calm and, patiently locating the handles by touch, I start to move, all the while thinking about how to eliminate the water if it were to reach my mouth. The only idea I can think of is to open the safety valve by my left ear: if I create controlled depressurisation, I should manage to let out some of the water, at least until it freezes through sublimation, which would stop the flow. But making a 'hole' in my spacesuit really would be a last resort...

posted 08-27-2013 10:51 PM               

Station Crew Recreates Spacesuit Leak