A spacewalk outside the ISS wasscrapped last monthwhen flight railroad engineer Luca Parmitano observe a piddle leak inside his helmet . “ My head is really wet and I have a feeling it ’s increasing , ” the Italian spaceman first tell Johnson Space Center in Houston . Then things fuck off much , much worse .
https://gizmodo.com/helmet-leak-forces-iss-astronauts-to-abort-spacewalk-801447474
In a account that ’s chilling in its straight-from-the-shoulder and straightforward recounting , Parmitano has provided a personal account of the incidentin a recent web log entry . This is a must - read . Below is an excerption , but you ’ll require to lead over to Parmitano ’s blogfor the entire entry .
At this exact moment , just as I ’m thinking about how to uncoil the cable neatly ( it is moving around like a thing possess in the weightlessness ) , I ‘ feel ’ that something is wrong . The unexpected sense experience of urine at the back of my neck surprise me – and I ’m in a place where I ’d rather not be surprised . I move my principal from side to side , affirm my first mental picture , and with superhuman crusade I force myself to inform Houston of what I can palpate , knowing that it could signalize the end of this EVA . On the earth , Shane substantiate they have received my message and he asks me to await operating instructions . Chris , who has just stop , is still nearby and he moves towards me to see if he can see anything and identify the source of the water in my helmet .
As I move back along my route towards the airlock , I become more and more certain that the piddle is increase . I sense it cover the sponge on my earphones and I inquire whether I ’ll drop off audio contact . The pee has also almost completely covered the front of my visor , cleave to it and obscuring my vision . I realise that to get over one of the antennae on my route I will have to move my body into a perpendicular position , also in order for my safety gadget cable television service to rewind normally . At that here and now , as I turn ‘ upside - down ’ , two things come about : the Sun Seth , and my ability to see – already compromised by the H2O – completely vanishes , give my eyes useless ; but uncollectible than that , the body of water shroud my nose – a really awful sensation that I make worse by my egotistical endeavor to move the water by shaking my head . By now , the upper part of the helmet is full of water and I ca n’t even be sure that the next sentence I breathe I will occupy my lungs with air and not fluid . To make matters worse , I realise that I ca n’t even read which direction I should steer in to get back to the airlock . I ca n’t see more than a few cm in front of me , not even enough to make out the handgrip we use to move around the Station .
shiver .
It ’s of import to commend that in the final stage , Parmitano ’s brushing with disaster is as much a cautionary tale as it is a a tribute to the careful cookery of scientists and technologist both in blank space and on the ground .
“ Space is a rough , inhospitable frontier and we are explorers , not colonisers , ” he muses . “ The acquirement of our engineers and the engineering surrounding us make things appear simple when they are not , and perhaps we blank out this sometimes .
“ Better not to forget . ”
Read the full Emily Post over on Parmitano ’s blog .
Top picture : a sight of Earth , photographed by Parmitano himself from aboard the ISSback in June
https://gizmodo.com/a-view-of-earth-thatll-make-you-go-whoa-585163628
NASAScienceSpace
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
newsworthiness from the hereafter , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
