Two astronauts had to interrupt their spacewalk on Friday and rushed to return to the International Space Station after water leaked into one of the helmets of men, in a chilling replay of an event almost drowns an astronaut two and a half years ago.
This photo taken from a NASA video shows astronauts Scott Kelly, center, Tim Kopra, left, and Britain’s Tim Peake. Kipra and Peake began a spacewalk to carry out repairs on the International Space Station on Friday 15 January 2016. Peake is the first British space traveler.
Photo: NASA via AP / AP in Spanish
The problem arose after the astronauts among them the first space walker Britain successfully restored electricity to the space station to replace a faulty electronic box.
NASA astronaut Tim Kopra took everyone by surprise when he reported that he had a little bubble of water in his helmet and, minutes later, a film of water. Aware of the danger presented with a similar case in another spacewalk in 2013, the Mission Control ended the walk almost two hours ahead of schedule.
“So far I’m fine,” Kopra said. Later, he said the water bubble was 10 centimeters in diameter (4 inch) and grew increasingly.
The space station commander, Scott Kelly, said he used a syringe to recover filtered water: about 15 cubic centimeters. NASA officials said that was nothing compared with the amount of water that escaped inside the helmet and suit of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano in July 2013: between a liter and half liter.
NASA said there was an emergency.
Kopra and his partner, the British astronaut Timothy Peake, replaced an electronic box that stopped working a month ago and reduced the power station by 12%.
This failure did not interrupt the work at the station 400 km from Earth, but NASA wanted to repair the mains as soon as possible in anticipation of future failures.
When Peake went into space, Commander Scott Kelly said, “Hey Tim, is extraordinary to see the Union Jack (British flag) out there. He has explored the world and now explores space. ”
“It is extraordinary to wear this,” Peake, “a great privilege, a moment of great pride,” he said.
A faulty unit, a voltage regulator, the size of a tank of 115 liters. It was replaced with a spare that is in the station since 1999.
Peake and Kopra worked in the dark to avoid electrical shock. They had 31 minutes to complete the repair, the time it would be dark at that particular time orbiting the Earth.
“I go for a walk,” Peake tweeted Thursday. “Ecstatic – but no time to talk about emotions.”
A Russian rocket took Peake and Kopra to the space station exactly one month ago.
Peake received many messages from Earth.
“We are seeing, without pressure,” said former Beatle Paul McCartney via Twitter. “I wish you a pleasant stroll through the universe.”
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