Helpless is the term that we can use to describe the experience of astronaut Luca Parmitano while he was on his 6-hour spacewalk to do a maintenance work on the International Space Station. Water inexplicably fills up inside his helmet.
Major Luca Parmitano of the Italian Air Force first alerted ground controllers that he was experiencing something strange on the back of his head and felt moisture. The ground controllers worried that he could choke on the water so the spacewalk was immediately stopped. American Christopher Cassidy, a veteran spacewalker, then assisted Parmitano back to the airlock. When his colleagues managed to remove his helmet, they noticed that there was as much as half a liter or 2 cups of water.
NASA is yet to find out how it exactly happened.
Though Astronauts continuously train for different emergency situations that may arise during their spacewalks, there are still dangers lurking as listed by the National Geographic. These include:
Suit Leaks-- You may think that their gears are impenetrable, but you are wrong. Even the tiniest metal particles can cause damage thus making catastrophic leak to their suit. To ensure their safety, they perform routine check-ups of their suit and gloves for injure before spacewalking.
Decompression sickness-- Rapid change in air pressure would cause nitrogen gas bubbles to inflate in the blood vessels. This may happen if an astronaut quickly goes out of the station after gearing up, therefore, leading him to experience severe pain, cramping, paralysis or worst, death. This could be avoided by undergoing ‘denitrogenation process’ before doing spacewalks because the pressure inside their spacesuits is way lower that inside the station.
Exhaustion or blackout-- Spacesuits are built with its own heating and cooling system. Despite of that, it can really increase in temperature when astronauts conduct demanding physical walks for hours. Therefore, ground controllers monitor astronauts’ vital signs religiously to make sure they are breathing normally and don’t over heat.
Accidental detachment from spaceship-- Like normal people, we go through hours of training to familiarize ourselves with the roads to track. The time is tripled in case of the astronauts. They undergo countless hours of spacewalks for them to remember the route they will take once they leave the airlock. Their spacesuits are directly bound to the ISS, but in case of detachment, no need to worry much, because all NASA spacesuits have mini-jet packs that allow spacewalkers float back to their station.
