NASA aborts spacewalk after leakage in astronaut's helmet
Washington, July 17: The US space agency -- NASA -- aborted a planned 6.5-hour spacewalk by two astronauts outside the International Space Station (ISSC) Tuesday when one of the spacewalkers reported "a buildup of water" inside his helmet.
"A little more than one hour into Tuesday's spacewalk, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency reported water floating behind his head inside his helmet," reported Xinhua citing NASA in a statement.
"The
water
was
not
an
immediate
health
hazard
for
Parmitano,
but
Mission
Control
decided
to
end
the
spacewalk
early."
The statement said Chris Cassidy of NASA and Parmitano were already safely back in the space station, and engineers were continuing to evaluate data to determine the cause of the leak.
Both
astronauts
had
planned
to
lay
wires
for
the
arrival
of
a
new
Russian
Multipurpose
Laboratory
Module
later
this
year
and
to
do
other
maintenance
works.
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The spacewalk officially ended at 1329 GMT, only 1 hour and 32 minutes into the planned 6.5-hour venture outside the space station, making it the second shortest in the orbital laboratory's history.
NASA said none of those tasks were urgent, and that the crew and station were not in any danger.
IANS