(ORDO NEWS) — NASA for some time stopped the exit of astronauts that are on the ISS, into outer space. The reason for this is that water has been recorded in the helmets of the spacesuits used by the astronauts.
This happened when they were in outer space outside the ISS. NASA is currently investigating the incident. It is worth noting that the last time the problem happened to the crew that had already managed to return to Earth.
NASA is still using old spacesuits. They are about 40 years old. In 2013, for the first time, water got inside the astronaut’s uniform. It happened directly during his spacewalk.
Luca Parmitano then transmitted a message to Earth that there was almost one and a half liters of water inside his spacesuit. As a result, it was necessary to complete the exit into open space ahead of schedule.
“At first, water got into the headphones and I was afraid that I might be left without a connection. After that, the front of the helmet was covered with moisture. When I flew back to the station, I even had water in my nose,” said an astronaut from Italy.
The second case was recorded in 2015. Then Terry Werts noticed water in his helmet. On another case, experts reported at the end of March this year. Matthias Maurer and Raja Chari were doing maintenance work on the ISS.
At the very end of the spacewalk, which lasted 7 hours, the accumulation of water in the helmet was noticed. Information about this was immediately transmitted to Earth, but NASA experts noted that this did not pose any threat to the astronaut’s life.
Since water began to get into the helmets of the spacesuits more often, it was decided to stop the spacewalk for a while.
NASA experts are concerned about what is happening and believe that it is time to change the spacesuits to modern models, because the old uniforms can pose a threat to the lives of astronauts. At the same time, there is not enough funding to replace the spacesuits, and even earlier, their service life was extended until 2028.
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