Posted on 06/26/2024 9:37:22 AM PDT by Red Badger
Suitable Occasion
On Monday, NASA had to suddenly cut a planned spacewalk outside of the International Space Station short after astronaut Tracy Dyson discovered water squirting from her spacesuit and obscuring her visor with ice.
Now, the astronauts are investigating what may have caused the leak, kicking off what NASA is calling a "spacewalk review" in a Tuesday update.
"[Astronaut Mike] Barratt began Tuesday morning troubleshooting Dyson’s spacesuit and inspecting the suit’s components," NASA wrote, while Dyson "wrapped up her day swapping out a water resupply tank in the Destiny laboratory module."
Oddly, the next spacewalk scheduled for next week is still technically on the table, indicating that NASA is confident in its crew members' ability to fix the problem.
Ice Helmet Challenge
Dyson and Barratt were originally planning on removing a faulty electronics box and checking in on samples of microorganisms attached to the space station's exterior.
But just after the pair opened the station's airlock hatch, the umbilical cooling unit attached to Dyson's suit started spraying water "everywhere."
"I got an arctic blast all over my visor," Dyson told mission control at the time.
Fortunately, Dyson was able to stem the unexpected leak by reconnecting the umbilical unit attached to her spacesuit, and the pair managed to clamber back to safety.
Monday's spacewalk was actually the second to have been canceled by the space agency this month. A previous mission had to be called off after crew member Matthew Dominick reported a "spacesuit discomfort issue."
It's far from the first time astronauts have struggled with spacesuits leaking water. In October 2022, NASA resumed spacewalks after a seven-month hiatus, which was triggered by European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer noticing an unusual buildup of water inside his helmet.
Meanwhile, NASA and Boeing are still investigating the space company's leaking Starliner spacecraft, which is now stuck on the ISS indefinitely, rounding out a glitch-filled couple of weeks for the current crew.
More on the incident: NASA Astronaut Alarmed When Water Starts Squirting Out of Her Suit as She Embarks on Spacewalk
NASA is like the gang that can’t shoot straight..
You’d pay $500 for that in Times Square.
I increasingly think the space station and NASA is just one big accident waiting to happen.
Perhaps DEI engineering at its finest......LOL
DEI
Sounds like she didn’t have her umbilical connected correctly.
I’m guessing that woke / managerial incompetence / government involvement plays a key role.
Tick tocking to a Morton Thiokol moment.
I suspect everything bad that is happening on this flight is because nasa has descended into being a joke.
Exactly what I was thinking....I would suppose that NASA means “Not As Special Anymore”.
DEI didn't drill this sufficiently in training, I suspect.
We perhaps should have given earlier and greater heed to the warning signs about where things had been heading.
What a great illustration of systemic dysfunctional quality control manifest at today’s “modern” Boeing-NASA. Its now obvious to even the dumbest employee that the new-improved company wide policies are new only. Some 350 people are dead as a result if you trace this back to the 737Max disasters. I worked for Boeing in 2005-2010 when the first 787 came off the line at Everett. Looking back...I can remember the same kind of development blunders all the way to Airbus’s A380. The 787 had the exact same kind of problems with roots traceable to foreign engineers using a totally different computer aided design software...resulting in utter communication breakdowns. The 787 airframe was built all over the world and pieces shipped to Everett to assemble like a puzzle...except the pieces didnt fit together. Was great overtime for the mechanics though.
Be glad it wasn’t black water, as any RVer can tell you.
Emptying the black water tank is ten times worse than scooping the cat litter box.
“stem the unexpected leak by reconnecting the umbilical unit”
Left loosey, righty tighty.
Truly. One of my sons is an aerospace welding engineer, and it was his DREAM to work for NASA, and his dream was fulfilled shortly after grad school a few years ago. He works closely with Boeing and is absolutely miserable and shocked at the dysfunction. He’s now interviewing at other places, needless to say.
Urinal backed up.
THAT IS THE OVER/UNDER ON MUSK RESCUING THEM???
It’s getting close to 50/50. If Boeing/NASA can’t come up with a safe solution, they will have to ask either Musk or the Russians for help.................................
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