ISS Spacewalk Terminated Due to Spacesuit Problem – UPDATE 3
A spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) this morning was terminated early when European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit apparently developed a leak.
The astronauts have safely returned to the inside of the ISS. ESA (@ESAoperations) tweeted that Parmitano and fellow spacewalker NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy have “doffed their suits. Specialists will work to find cause of leak in @astro_luca’s suit.” Other tweets indicate that there was water in his helmet, possibly from a leak in the water-cooled garment.
ESA released this photo of Parmitano after he returned to the space station. He is being helped out of his spacesuit by NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg.
Photo Credit: ESA/NASA
NASA released a video with excerpts of ground-space communications as the problem developed. (Editor’s Note: I watched this video not 10 minutes ago following link from ESA tweet, but now I get a “this video is private” message from YouTube. Can’t imagine why. Just looked like NASA TV footage.)
NASA reports on its ISS website that the spacewalk began at 7:57 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and ended at 9:39 am, a duration of 1 hour 42 minutes.
Check back here for more information as it becomes available.
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