Spacewalking is dangerous, even during the easiest times. But when a complication occurs, space is the loneliest, most dangerous place to be.
Italian
astronaut, Major Luca Parmitano, was on his second spacewalk on July 16, 2013,
just a week after his first. Working with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), Parmitano was on a scheduled spacewalk outside the
International Space Station (ISS) with American astronaut Christopher Cassidy
when the incident occurred.
Parmitano’s
helmet began filling with water. Connected to the ISS only by a cable, the
water sloshes around his head. He describes it as “a really awful sensation” –
and he shakes his head to try to release the water. It doesn’t work, and only
makes the situation worse. By now the upper part of his helmet is full of water
(in space the water sits on the ceiling of the helmet). He can’t see because
the water is covering his eyes. Then it covers his nose. He is about to drown
in space.
The
situation has never occurred before – to any spacewalker. He knows that if he
breathes through his nose, water will enter. He breathes through his mouth, but
the water continues to seep into his helmet. With water over his eyes, he can’t
see the hatch of the space station, and loses his sense of direction. He tries
to contact Cassidy through his communications device, but Cassidy can’t hear.
The communications device is also connected to Mission Control, but they can’t
hear him either. He is alone in space, drowning.
He
has to think of a plan to save himself. He has to return to the space station
immediately. His partner Cassidy is already returning to the hatch (the opening
of the space station with an air lock) on a different route. A month after the
incident, Major Parmitano writes in his blog that he remembers his safety cable.
He uses the thick cable attached to the ISS to pull himself back to the hatch
as water continues to fill his helmet. But he is running out of time – and air.
The
former test pilot with the Italian Air Force thinks about opening the safety
valve on his helmet to let out some of the water. He doesn’t know where it’s
coming from. But that would be the last resort, he writes in his blog. Just as
he is pondering what to do, he is next to the hatch and Commander Cassidy is
behind him.
Cassidy
sees the problem and notifies Mission Control. The astronauts inside the
station begin to re-pressurise the air lock so that they can bring the
astronauts inside. By now the water is inside Parmitano’s ears and he tries not
to move his head. Cassidy squeezes Parmitano’s glove and the Italian gives the
OK sign. He could open his helmet now during the re-pressurisation process, but
he would probably lose consciousness. “It would be better than drowning inside
the helmet,” he writes.
Finally,
the inside astronauts open the internal door, pull him inside, and remove his
helmet. NASA has traced the problem to Parmitano’s spacesuit backpack which
contains the life-support equipment. However, the precise cause of the incident
is still unknown, but investigations are ongoing.
NASA
thinks it’s possibly the most dangerous incident they have had during an
American-led spacewalk. Hence NASA has suspended all American-led spacewalks
until the problem is resolved. Major Parmitano will remain in the International
Space Station until November – when he returns to Earth.
Meanwhile,
Russian cosmonauts, who have different spacesuits and backpacks to the American
astronauts, will conduct a spacewalk today - Thursday August 22 – as part of their
second scheduled spacewalk in less than a week. The spacewalk are being
conducted to prepare for the arrival of a new laboratory by the end of this
year.
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