Italian Astronaut Luca Parmitano's blog on almost drowning in space

Scruff

wow. great read.

http://blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano/2013/08/20/eva-23-exploring-the-frontier/

At that moment, as I turn ‘upside-down’, two things happen: the Sun sets, and my ability to see – already compromised by the water – completely vanishes, making my eyes useless; but worse than that, the water covers my nose – a really awful sensation that I make worse by my vain attempts to move the water by shaking my head. By now, the upper part of the helmet is full of water and I can’t even be sure that the next time I breathe I will fill my lungs with air and not liquid. To make matters worse, I realise that I can’t even understand which direction I should head in to get back to the airlock. I can’t see more than a few centimetres in front of me, not even enough to make out the handles we use to move around the Station.

If it was me the lower portion of my space suit would also have been filling with liquid

emo72

good read that. the water leaked from his drinking water bottle i assume?

apollo8

No in fact the only place NASA are certain the water did not leak from is luca's water bottle as he drank its contents when the leak began.he too thought his drinking water was to blame.
NASA have still not declared where the leak came from.
The suit will be returned to earth for examination by the next dragon to visit the station.

shedweller

I thought it was agreed the leak came from the cooling loop and water escaped from it into the ventilation system and onwards to the helmet.
Still though, it goes to show these people have to have the right stuff!

Rubecula

Must have been darn scary for him though :eek:

apollo8

EVA-23 Investigation:

Meanwhile, NASA’s Anomaly Resolution Team (ART) are continuing to investigate the cause of the water leak in Luca Parmitano’s suit that terminated EVA-23 on July 16.

EMU SchematicThe ART have so far met seven times, with with the reviews of previous troubleshooting results and on-orbit data indicating that the most likely cause of the vent loop water leak relates to a blocked or clogged Water Separator Pilot Tube, a blocked condensate water relief valve, or a blocked condensate water line filter.

Specifically, engineers have determined that the EMU 3011 water separator loop is allowing excessive amounts of water to enter the ventilation loop.

“A leading theory of a clogged water separator loop in EMU 3011 has been postulated by the technical community that could explain how water was introduced into the vent loop once in EVA,” noted expansive rolling updates on the dedicated investigation section in L2.

While the investigation continues, the EVA Project Office verbally presented an overview of the “Road To” Plan to be able to conduct a contingency EVA via the two remaining EMUs on the Station.

EMU Being TestedDuring recent testing, the crew performed tests of Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) 3005 and 3010 to check the status of the condensate water transport loops and assess for leakage into the vent loop.

“During the test setup, the crew was unable to successfully connect the Station Support Computer (SSC) to either EMU to collect high rate data,” added notes.

“After discussions on the ground, the crew pressed with the test with the nominal telemetry data. Additional onboard troubleshooting was unsuccessful, and ground teams are attempting to recreate the issue in the lab. The high rate data will likely be needed for follow on troubleshooting for EMU 3011.”

Should the ISS require a contingency EVA, an immediate risk discussion will be held with ISS senior management to discuss the residual risk.

Cygnus arriving at the ISS' KOZ (Keep Out Zone).Investigation notes also added that some EMU elements – namely ground-built Helmet Absorption Pads (HAPs) – will ride uphill on an upcoming Soyuz and on Orbital’s Cygnus vehicle during its debut trip to the ISS during the ORB-D mission.

shedweller

They'll be changing their maintenance procedures for the suits then.

_Tombstone_

shedweller wrote: »

They'll be changing their maintenance procedures for the suits then.

2 and a half years later and THE SAME SPACESUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek:, leaking again, NASA.....they don't give a Toss do they?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/britain-1st-spacewalker-station-power-grid-fixed-36309939


Theirs no need for those suits to be the dogs they are, they never bothered spending a few quid to design a proper Suit, absorbent pads is all they added to the helmet.:mad:

Wibbs

NASA it seems can become lax enough over time. It usually requires a mortality and then they fix things. The Apollo 1 fire and the Challenger loss made them really rethink things and in both cases there were countless warnings(inc close calls) that there were problems.

Keplar240B

Why are spacewalks even required for maintenance the whole thing is badly designed
they should be able to do the vast majority of maintenance without leaving space station.

Keplar240B

Why are spacewalks even required for maintenance the whole thing is badly designed
they should be able to do the vast majority of maintenance without leaving space station.

shedweller

Well, if it was me i'd be only too happy to go for a spacewalk and as often as possible!

Rubecula

shedweller wrote: »

Well, if it was me i'd be only too happy to go for a spacewalk and as often as possible!

In that particular suit?

Wibbs

Keplar240B wrote: »

Why are spacewalks even required for maintenance the whole thing is badly designed
they should be able to do the vast majority of maintenance without leaving space station.

Great in theory, but if you have an "outside" to any structure, sooner or later you're going to need to go and fix something. Sure, you could do it remotely with robots and such, but that's regressive and a bit "eee I don't wan't to go outside" IMH. Again IMH the Mark 1 Human Eyeball should always be in the mix as much as possible. The skill set involved with EVA should always be a part of manned spaceflight.

Rubecula wrote: »

In that particular suit?

Yeah, I'd be having my doubts. Give me one of the Russian ones instead. No issues with them AFAIK. Failing that one of the Apollo ones. They seem to have been able to take a fair bit of pulling and chucking in a much harsher environment. Mad expensive to make mind you and the skills involved back then may not even be around these days. They were pretty much handmade to size by Yoda level seamstresses. Back then in NASA the acronym LOL referred not to laughter, but the "Little Old Ladies" who made the suits(and wove the rope memory for the LEM guidance computer. As you do).

_Tombstone_

Keplar240B wrote: »

Why are spacewalks even required for maintenance the whole thing is badly designed
they should be able to do the vast majority of maintenance without leaving space station.

One of the jobs they didnt get done on the last spacewalk due to the flooding was putting in the newish of the new berthing ports which needs to be done cuz of the ISS USB Port wars (the Russians have theirs ,americans have another, japanese are only compatable with one type and you need backup docking ports in case one breaks so yea bad planning...or no planning due to political balls) All vessels going up will dock not just berth by 2017, difference in link below.

They replaced a power shunt, I not sure what that was doing outside, probably more silliness if ya look into it.

But as said, you'll always have to go out, the Enterprise often had to go into spacedock after taking damage.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Docking_System
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/07/nasa-planning-module-relocations-future-vehicles/


Plus they plan on putting more people up there soon so they are gonna be going out in prep of that/moving Modules/....it gonna be like Tetris at level 99.