NASA Set to Resume ISS Spacewalks in 2025 After Terrifying Spacesuit Leaks

Following a months-long hiatus, NASA astronauts are acceptable to measurement extracurricular of the International Space Station (ISS) erstwhile again and behaviour immoderate orbital handiwork.

NASA plans to resume spacewalks successful 2025 aft a spacesuit leak forced the bureau to suspend extravehicular enactment successful June to code the issue. During a property league earlier this week, Bill Spetch, operations and integration manager of NASA’s ISS program, told reporters that NASA is readying its adjacent acceptable of spacewalks “early adjacent year,” Space.com reported.

“It’s conscionable a substance of erstwhile is the close timing,” Spetch is quoted arsenic saying. NASA replaced a seal and umbilical cord connecting the spacesuit to the ISS, and the leaky spacesuit was successfully repressurized, according to Spetch.

Hopefully that resolves the issue, which could airs a life-threatening hazard to the spacewalking astronauts. In June, 2 NASA astronauts were preparing to exit the ISS for a spacewalk, which was abruptly called disconnected owed to a h2o leak successful the work and cooling umbilical portion connected astronaut Tracy Dyson’s spacesuit. “There’s h2o everywhere,” Dyson could beryllium heard saying during the unrecorded provender from the ISS.

NASA’s leaky spacesuits, bittersweet to say, are a recurring taxable connected the ISS. In May 2022, NASA suspended spacewalks extracurricular the ISS pursuing a bid of perchance life-threatening incidents of h2o leaking into astronauts’ helmets during their spacewalks. NASA astronaut Raja Chari and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer were installing hoses connected a radiator beam valve module extracurricular the abstraction presumption connected March 23, 2022 erstwhile Maurer—who was venturing retired connected his archetypal spacewalk—noticed immoderate h2o and dampness wrong his visor towards the extremity of the seven-hour spacewalk.

Earlier successful 2013, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano noticed a h2o leak wrong his helmet that forced him to abruptly extremity the spacewalk. Parmitano was capable to re-enter the ISS airlock but was having trouble breathing arsenic 1.5 liters of h2o had formed wrong his helmet. “I consciousness it covering the sponge connected my earphones and I wonderment whether I’ll suffer audio contact. The h2o has besides astir wholly covered the beforehand of my visor, sticking to it and obscuring my vision,” Parmitano recounted.

That aforesaid suit worn by Parmitano astir drowned different astronaut 2 years later. NASA astronaut Terry Virts, donning spacesuit #3005, noticed free-floating droplets of h2o and a damp absorption pad successful his helmet astatine the decision of his spacewalk.

It’s wide that NASA has a spacesuit problem. The suits worn by astronauts connected committee the ISS are much than 40 years aged and are rapidly nearing the extremity of their work life. NASA’s extravehicular mobility units (EMU) were archetypal designed successful the 1970s and utilized for its abstraction shuttle program. Recently, NASA turned to its commercialized partners to make caller spacesuits, handing contracts to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace successful June 2022 worthy a combined worth of $3.5 billion. Collins Aerospace is falling down connected its task, portion Axiom debuted the caller threads past year.

The spacesuits are meant to beryllium worn by astronauts arsenic portion of the upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon, but they volition besides alert to the ISS beforehand for a proceedings tally connected the ISS. For now, the astronauts volition proceed spacewalking successful debased Earth orbit portion wearing the outdated spacesuits, but hopefully the impermanent fixes volition support them safe.