A new report says the near-drowning of a spacewalking Italian astronaut working outside the International Space Station could have been avoided if NASA hadn’t missed an earlier problem with his spacesuit.
Although station astronauts found water after Luca Parmitano participated in spacewalk 22, they assumed it was anomaly.
“You can’t take anything for granted. What you think you know you need to continue to ask, you need to continue to study,” says Space Station Program manager Mike Suffredini. “We need to check assumptions, and this report, this incident, really drives that back home to us.”
Parmitano had to abort spacewalk 23 after water built up in his helmet and got into his eyes, nose and mouth.
NASA’s lead investigator Chris Hansen said a blocked water separator inside the suit caused the leak, but the malfunction is still being investigated. Nearly 50 recommendations to improve spacewalk safety are included in the new report. The most critical are slated for implementation this summer.
Suffredini says space suit technology is 35 years old, more than twice the station’s age of 15 years. In their continued studies in space, he says there is still much to learn to improve technology intended for use in space.
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