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SCIENCESaturday 16 January 2016
Spacewalk aborted after water leaks into astronaut’s helmet
MARCIA DUNN failed two months ago, date. radioed. Space Agency, is Britain’s
AP Aerospace Writer slashing station power by Mission Control assured the Peake, in particular, re-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) one-eighth. The break- spacewalkers they had ceived a bounty of well first official astronaut.
— Two spacewalking astro- down did not disrupt work enough time, as the two wishes — from space as
nauts — including Britain’s 250 miles up, but NASA struggled to bolt down the well as Earth. He became A handful of previous
first — successfully restored wanted the power grid spare unit. Once it was at- the first spacewalker to
full power to the Interna- fixed as soon as possible in tached, power tests fol- wear the Union Jack on the spacewalkers held dual
tional Space Station on case something else failed. lowed. Mission Control shoulder of his suit.
Friday. But the spacewalk Working in darkness to informed the astronauts “We’re all watching, no U.S.-English citizenship,
was cut short after water avoid electrical shock from everything looked good. pressure!” Former Beatle
leaked into one of the the solar power system, “Awesome,” replied Kopra. Paul McCartney said via but flew as Americans for
men’s helmets in a scary the astronauts hurried to Engineers suspect the origi- Twitter. “Wishing you a
repeat of a near-drowning NASA. The first British citizen
2½ years ago.
NASA astronaut Timothy to fly in space, chemist Hel-
Kopra took everyone by
surprise when he reported en Sharman, visited Russia’s
a small water bubble and
a few minutes later, a film old Mir space station as
of water, inside his helmet.
Wary of the close call of part of a private competi-
another spacewalker in
2013, Mission Control termi- tion in 1991.
nated the planed six-hour
spacewalk at the four-hour Peake and Kopra rock-
and 10-minute mark.
“So far, I’m OK,” Kopra as- eted into orbit exactly one
sured everyone. Later, he
said the water bubble was month ago aboard a Rus-
4 inches long and getting
thicker. “I’m doing good,” sian spacecraft.
he repeated.
NASA stressed that the To distinguish between the
situation was not an emer-
gency and insisted neither two Tims, Mission Control
spacewalker was in dan-
ger. Indeed, Kopra took used both their first and last
time to thank everyone for
their help as the air lock names when calling out
was repressurized.
Their crewmates inside to them. Ground control-
waited anxiously with tow-
els to mop up the water, lers, at least, didn’t have
believed to have leaked
from the cooling loop in Ko- any problem distinguishing
pra’s suit.
Kopra and his spacewalk- the spacewalkers’ voices.
ing partner, British space-
man Timothy Peake, com- Peake is from West Sussex in
pleted their No. 1 job early
on in the spacewalk. The southeast England; Kopra is
pair quickly removed the
voltage regulator that from Austin, Texas.
“Popping outside for a
walk,” Peake said in a
tweet Thursday. “Exhilarat-
ed - but no time to dwell on
emotions.”
In this image made from video provided by NASA, crew members of the International Space Another European astro-
Station inspect the spacesuit of NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, left, after a spacewalk with British
spaceman Timothy Peake was cut short after water leaked into Kopra’s helmet. naut — Italy’s Luca Par-
(NASA via AP) mitano — almost drowned
when his helmet filled with
water that leaked from the
cooling system of his un-
remove the bad unit and nal unit suffered an internal happy stroll outdoors in the dergarment in July 2013.
pop in a spare. They had electrical short. Following universe.”
just 31 minutes to complete the failure, the station relied Earlier, as Peake floated NASA added absorbent
the job, the amount of on the seven other power out, space station com-
nighttime on that particular channels. mander Scott Kelly called, pads to the helmet and
swing around the world. The action unfolded on the “Hey Tim, it’s really cool
It took a bit longer than ex- far reaches of the space seeing that Union Jack go put in place other precau-
pected to install the spare, station. outside. It’s explored all
dubbed Dusty, about the The work site is about 200 over the world. Now it’s ex- tions for future spacewalks.
size of a 30-gallon aquari- feet from the astronauts’ plored space.”
um. exit, about as far as space- Replied Peake: “It’s great to Those pads and safety pro-
The spare had been inside walkers safely can go. be wearing it, a huge privi-
the space station since “Glad to see you both out lege, a proud moment.” cedures came in handy Fri-
1999; newly arrived cables there together on the tip of Peake, a helicopter pilot
allowed a software up- the world,” Mission Control chosen by the European day.
Parmitano’s spacewalk-
ing partner that day, NASA
astronaut Chris Cassidy,
rushed into Mission Control
and offered assistance Fri-
day, as soon as he learned
what happened.q
