Another Spacewalk Scrub for NASA Astronauts

For the second time in a row, NASA had to scrub a spacewalk today.  In this case, water began leaking from NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson’s spacesuit as she and Mike Barratt were about to step out of the International Space Station’s Quest airlock into space. They were still in the airlock and could close the hatch and reattach to ISS systems relatively quickly. NASA insists they were not in danger because of the leak.

NASA planned to conduct a series of spacewalks or Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) on June 13, June 24 and July 2.

Dyson and Matt Dominick were getting ready to perform the first one on June 13 when it was cancelled because Dominick experienced “spacesuit discomfort” while he and Dyson were in the airlock.  NASA has not specified what the problem was, only that it could not be rectified in a timely manner.

Dyson and Dominick were supposed to remove a faulty electronic box and collect samples of microorganisms near vents from the interior of the ISS to determine what can survive the harsh space environment. Those tasks were reassigned to today’s spacewalk with Dyson teamed with Barratt.

NASA provides live coverage of spacewalks and viewers could follow today’s events moment by moment as Dyson and Barratt opened the hatch, disconnected their suits from the ISS and switched to internal battery power, and suddenly reported water spewing around them.

Dyson exclaimed “my goodness, my helmet fogged up” and “ice crystals are flowing out of my SCU, guys,” referring to the Service and Cooling Umbilical that provides oxygen, power, communications and water when the spacesuit is connected to the ISS. Barratt added “there’s water everywhere, literally water everywhere.” Dyson, a veteran of three spacewalks on previous missions, reported that she had ice on her visor and on her hands. She later compared it to being in “a snow cone machine.”

In a statement on the ISS blog, NASA said the spacewalk was terminated “due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit on Dyson’s spacesuit.”

The leak stopped after Dyson reconnected the umbilical to the ISS systems. They then closed the hatch and repressurized the airlock. The elapsed time between switching to battery power at 8:46 am ET and repressurizing the airlock at 9:17 am ET counts as a 31-minute EVA even though they never went outside.

They doffed their spacesuits at 10:25 am ET. Other than the brief statement on the ISS blog, NASA hasn’t provided further information or indicated if the July 2 EVA will go ahead as planned.