CBS News by William Harwood 5/17/2022
The aging shuttle-era spacesuits aboard the International Space Station have been declared "no-go" for operational, normally planned spacewalks, pending analysis to determine what led to excess water getting into an astronaut's helmet during a March excursion, officials confirmed Tuesday.
But the bulky spacesuits — "extra-vehicular mobility units," or EMUs — can still be used for emergency repairs or to resolve other unexpected issues if agency managers agree after assessing the overall risk.
"Until we understand better what the causal factors might have been during the last EVA with our EMU, we are no-go for nominal EVA (spacewalk)," said Dana Weigel, deputy manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "So we won't do a planned EVA until we've had a chance to really address and rule out major system failure modes."
Water intrusion has been a source of concern ever since a July 2013 spacewalk in which European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet flooded with water, a frightening, potentially life-threatening malfunction that forced an early end to the excursion.
Parmitano was not injured, but after the spacewalk NASA said he reported "impaired visibility and breathing with water covering his eyes, nose and ears." The astronaut's "calm demeanor in the face of his helmet filling with water possibly saved his life."
The "high-visibility close call" triggered a major investigation to pin down the source of the leakage. A detailed inspection revealed clogs in a component that inadvertently diverted water into a vent line that allowed intrusion into the helmet.
More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacesuits-aboard-station-no-go-pending-analysis-of-recent-helmet-water-leak/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=165547552
