EVA 23: exploring the frontier in Luca's own words

This is from ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano's personnel blog.  It is about his own words of his experience when his helmet in the spacesuit filled up with water on EVA 23.

Posted on August 20, 2013

My eyes are closed as I listen to Chris counting down the atmospheric pressure inside the airlock – it’s close to zero now. But I’m not tired – quite the reverse! I feel fully charged, as if electricity and not blood were running through my veins. I just want to make sure I experience and remember everything. I’m mentally preparing myself to open the door because I will be the first to exit the Station this time round. Maybe it’s just as well that it’s night time: at least there won’t be anything to distract me.
When I read 0.5 psi, it’s time to turn the handle and pull up the hatch. It is pitch black outside, not the colour black but rather a complete absence of light. I drink in the sight as I lean out to attach our safety cables. I feel completely at ease as I twist my body to let Chris go by. In a matter of seconds, we finish checking each other and we separate. Even though we are both heading to more or less the same part of the International Space Station, our routes are completely different, set out by the choreography we have studied meticulously. My route is direct, towards the back of the Station, while Chris has to go towards the front first in order to wind his cable around Z1, the central truss structure above Node 1. At that moment, none of us in orbit or on Earth could have imagined just how much this decision would influence the events of the day.

Credits NASA

I pay careful attention to every move as I make my way towards the protective bag that we left outside the week before. I don’t want to make the mistake of feeling so much at ease as to be relaxed. Inside the bag I find the cables that form part of what will perhaps be my most difficult task of the day. I have to connect them to the Station’s external sockets while at the same time securing them to the surface of the station with small metal wires. Both operations involve me using my fingers a lot, and I know from experience that this will be really tiring because of the pressurised gloves.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy. Credits NASA

Chris partially connected the first cable last week, so I get hold of the part that is still unattached and I guide it carefully towards the socket. After a little initial difficulty, I inform Houston that I have completed the task and I’m ready for the second cable. After getting hold of the next cable, I move into what I think is the most difficult position to work from on the whole Station: I’m literally wedged between three different modules, with my visor and my PLSS (my ‘backpack’) just a few centimetres from the external walls of Node 3, Node 1 and the Lab. Very patiently, with considerable effort I manage to fasten one end of the second cable to the socket. Then, moving blindly backwards, I free myself from the awkward position I’ve had to work in. On the ground, Shane tells me that I’m almost 40 minutes ahead of schedule, and Chris is also running ahead on his tasks.
At this exact moment, just as I’m thinking about how to uncoil the cable neatly (it is moving around like a thing possessed in the weightlessness), I ‘feel’ that something is wrong. The unexpected sensation of water at the back of my neck surprises me – and I’m in a place where I’d rather not be surprised. I move my head from side to side, confirming my first impression, and with superhuman effort I force myself to inform Houston of what I can feel, knowing that it could signal the end of this EVA. On the ground, Shane confirms they have received my message and he asks me to await instructions. Chris, who has just finished, is still nearby and he moves towards me to see if he can see anything and identify the source of the water in my helmet.
At first, we’re both convinced that it must be drinking water from my flask that has leaked out through the straw, or else it’s sweat. But I think the liquid is too cold to be sweat, and more importantly, I can feel it increasing. I can’t see any liquid coming out of the drinking water valve either. When I inform Chris and Shane of this, we immediately receive the order to ‘terminate’ the sortie. The other possibility, to ‘abort’, is used for more serious problems. I’m instructed to go back to the airlock. Together we decide that Chris should secure all the elements that are outside before he retraces his steps to the airlock, i.e. he will first move to the front of the Station. And so we separate.

Luca "jammed"between three ISS modules.

As I move back along my route towards the airlock, I become more and more certain that the water is increasing. I feel it covering the sponge on my earphones and I wonder whether I’ll lose audio contact. The water has also almost completely covered the front of my visor, sticking to it and obscuring my vision. I realise that to get over one of the antennae on my route I will have to move my body into a vertical position, also in order for my safety cable to rewind normally. 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.
I try to contact Chris and Shane: I listen as they talk to each other, but their voices are very faint now: I can hardly hear them and they can’t hear me. I’m alone. I frantically think of a plan. It’s vital that I get inside as quickly as possible. I know that if I stay where I am, Chris will come and get me, but how much time do I have? It’s impossible to know. Then I remember my safety cable. Its cable recoil mechanism has a force of around 3lb that will ‘pull’ me towards the left. It’s not much, but it’s the best idea I have: to follow the cable to the airlock. I force myself to stay calm and, patiently locating the handles by touch, I start to move, all the while thinking about how to eliminate the water if it were to reach my mouth. The only idea I can think of is to open the safety valve by my left ear: if I create controlled depressurisation, I should manage to let out some of the water, at least until it freezes through sublimation, which would stop the flow. But making a ‘hole’ in my spacesuit really would be a last resort.

Mission Control, Houston.
Credits NASA

I move for what seems like an eternity (but I know it’s just a few minutes). Finally, with a huge sense of relief, I peer through the curtain of water before my eyes and make out the thermal cover of the airlock: just a little further, and I’ll be safe. One of the last instructions I received was to go back inside immediately, without waiting for Chris. According to protocol, I should have entered the airlock last, because I was first to leave. But neither Chris nor I have any problem in changing the order in which we re-enter. Moving with my eyes closed, I manage to get inside and position myself to wait for Chris’ return. I sense movement behind me; Chris enters the airlock and judging from the vibrations, I know that he’s closing the hatch. At that moment, communication passes to Karen and for some reason, I’m able to hear her fairly well. But I realise that she can’t hear me because she repeats my instructions even though I’ve already replied. I follow Karen’s instructions as best I can, but when repressurization begins I lose all audio. The water is now inside my ears and I’m completely cut off.
I try to move as little as possible to avoid moving the water inside my helmet. I keep giving information on my health, saying that I’m ok and that repressurization can continue. Now that we are repressurizing, I know that if the water does overwhelm me I can always open the helmet. I’ll probably lose consciousness, but in any case that would be better than drowning inside the helmet. At one point, Chris squeezes my glove with his and I give him the universal ‘ok’ sign with mine. The last time he heard me speak was before entering the airlock!
The minutes of repressurization crawl by and finally, with an unexpected wave of relief, I see the internal door open and the whole team assembled there ready to help. They pull me out and as quickly as possible, Karen unfastens my helmet and carefully lifts it over my head. Fyodor and Pavel immediately pass me a towel and I thank them without hearing their words because my ears and nose will still be full of water for a few minutes more.
Space is a harsh, inhospitable frontier and we are explorers, not colonisers. The skills of our engineers and the technology surrounding us make things appear simple when they are not, and perhaps we forget this sometimes.
Better not to forget.

You can go to the website HERE

Drowning in Space - ISS EVA #23

No one drowned in space, and the crew is fine but for a little while it was bit dicly.  Luca Parmitano, the first Italian to preform a spacewalk was on his second spacewalk of his career.  He report that there was some water on the back of his head.  The amount of water started to increase, and it moved to the front of his helmet and got into his mouth, nose, and eyes.  Luca was outside the ISS in his spacesuit with his EVA (extravehicular activity) crew-mate Chris Cassidy.  Both these guys are cool customers, Luca is a Major and former test pilot in the Italian Air Force who enjoys skydiving and SCUBA diving.  One thing to point out about Luca that in 2007, he was awarded the Medaglia al Valore Aeronautico d'Argento (Decoration for Aeronautical Valor in Silver) by the President of the Italian Republic, after safely landing his AMX in emergency due to a bird strike.  This was not Luca's first or last brush with death.  There is a reason he was selected as an astronaut.  His partner outside the space station was Commander (US Navy, not of the ISS) Chris Cassidy, the second Navy SEAL in space.  Chris is a combat veteran with 10 years of experience in the SEALS and two Bronze Stars for Valor during operations in Afghanistan.  While the FCT (Flight Control Team in Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX) talked with Luca with some troubling shooting steps to try to figure out where the water was coming from Chris chimed in, that it could be urine, right after Luca said he drank some.  This helped ease some of the tension in the FCR (Flight Control Room), even in space jokes about peeing are still funny.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 flight engineer takes a picture while outside the ISS for EVA 23 Photo Credit: NASA

 "ISS mission management team leader Kenneth Todd, joined by flight director David Korth and EVA officer Karina Eversley, confirmed the seriousness of the problem at an afternoon press conference. Korth noted that EVAs are already dangerous. For Parmitano, this experience was like plunging one's head into a sloshing fishbowl, with no way to get it off.

Eversley agreed that the choking hazard from inhaled water was real, and it eventually caused flight controllers to terminate the spacewalk. Todd said he was proud of the way the ISS team handled the near-emergency, one they had never encountered before. "The crew was cool and expert in reporting and diagnosing the problem. Our training on the ground paid off, and the team kept its eye on the main objective"—the crew's safety." From ISS Astronauts Have a Spacewalking Close Call - Popular Mechanics

For an idea of why this was dangerous look at this video Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian Commander of the ISS, made while he was up there.

Now image all that water on your face, it affects you seeing where to go, being able to talk on the radio, breathe, now it gets scary. 

There are two sources of water in a spacesuit other then urine (the diaper the astronauts wear should prevent this): the EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit, aka the spacesuit) cooling system that holds about 3.8 liters of water and the water drink bag which holds about 1 liter.  
In the earlier EVA# 22 when taking off Luca's suit it was reported there was a lot of water in this helmet, special steps were given to dry out the suit.  This water was believed to come from his drink bag.  The drink bag was found to be empty.  He was given a new drink bag to use on EVA #23. 

I would rule out the drink bag as the issue beacuse:
A. He was given a new one
B. It only hold about 1 liter of water, the crew reported 1 -1.5 liter of water in his helmet. 
C. He would have been drinking some water in the first hour of the spacewalk reducing the amount in his drink bag

The cooling system for the EMU seems to be the cause of the issue in my mind.  It holds 3.8 liters of water.  That's more than enough to have caused the flood in Parmitano's helmet, estimated at about 1 to 1.5 liters.  The cooling water moves from the heat exchanger to inside the suit onlong the astronauts skin via the Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG).  To cause this leak there has to be something wrong with the LCG or the connection that supplies the LCG. 

For those of you who were not spacesuit field test engineers here is something to help you understand how spacesuits work:

How NASA Spacesuits Work: EMUs Explained (Infographic)
by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist, Space.com

You can read the rest of the article HERE. 
To see the NASA press release go to This Website

Also now from NASATV see the coverage of the leak discussion:

Now the big question you are wondering where was I during all this excitement?  I was in MCC, not in FCR but one of the support rooms.  I was training on learning how to work the Bio-hardness, which the astronauts wear that get all their Bio data and send it to the ground for the Flight Surgeons.  The job which I was training for was to make sure all the bio data made it down to the ground, and trouble shoot any problems that arise.

For current process on finding the water leak issue the  very smart engineers and EVA operations personnel are still work on it.  I will let you know once they find out something.

   

Swimming with spacemen: training for spacewalks at NASA’s giant pool

Here is "Swimming with spacemen: training for spacewalks at NASA’s giant pool".  It is a great article about
Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Chris Cassidy of NASA's astronaut corps training for their two EVAs (spacewalks) that happened 1 last week, and another tomorrow.  It is worth reading HERE

 Get ready tomorrow is EVA #23!

Russain EVA on Monday June 24, 2013

This is a little late but I have been busy, sorry.

On June 24, 2013 at 13:32 UTC Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Aleksandr Misurkin conducted a 6 hour and 34 minute extra vehicular activity (EVA) or a space walk.  During this spacewalk the duo completed a number of objectives:

1. SP RRGh02 Maintenance - Fluid Flow Regulator Replacement
2. KURS Test:  The KURS provides the navigation beacon for Russian space vehicles such as the Soyuz and also the European Space Agency (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).
3. Cable Clamp Install they were only able to partially complete this one
4. Indikator Installation on Posik
5. Vinoslivost Retrieval from Poisk
6. Gap Spanner Install on Zevezda (ISS Module, also called the Service Module SM), this was only partially completed
7. Photon - Gamma Retrieval from Zvezda

I don't know what most of these tasks are for or what they are, my area of responsibility is a little different and the truth is, USOS (US side of station) personnel really do not get much training or knowledge of the Russian side of the station outside of their area of responsibility.

More can be found at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition36/e36_062113.html


 http://www.spaceflight101live.com/live-iss-expedition-36-russian-eva-33.html

EVA #22 Training Exercise

In July there will be two EVAs (Extra-vehicular activity) where the astronauts will go out outside the International Space Station (ISS) to preform a number of maintenance tasks on the Station.  I am scheduled to work the first of the two EVAs, EVA # 22.   Two astronauts Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), an US Navy SEAL, and Major Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), an Italian Air Force Test Pilot will perform the EVA.  Major Parmitano is going to be the first Italian to perform a spacewalk or EVA.

Commander Chris Cassidy                            Major Luca Parmitano

EVAs are a very complex task, first the crew has to re-size the on-board spacesuits so they can fit somewhat comfortably in the spacesuits. While on the ground they plan the EVA down to every handhold that the spacewalking crew members will use.  This is a planned EVA so before these astronauts where even in space they wer training in the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory), a giant people at Johnson Space Center that is 40 feet deep, 100 feet wide and 200 ft long.  It is used to simulate the weightless environment of space, and it has a mockup of the exterior of the space station in it.

Even an astronaut that does not go outside the station still has to help out with the EVA.  Dr. Karen Nyberg of NASA gets to be involved.  She helps the two EVA crew members get in and out of their suits and she gets to control the giant robotic arm of the space station to assist in the EVA.

Dr. Karen Nyberg

The Flight Control Team (FCT) also undergoes  lots of training on the ground.  One of these training exercises is a full dress rehearsal of the EVA with the FCT that is on console during that EVA.  The FCT including both shifts that will be on-console are in the SIM, that means that there is a handover in the middle of the SIM, which is very rare in the SIM world.   

NBL at JSC

The FCT runs through all the procedures and look for issues to fine tune their calls to the crew to make sure things will run smoothly on the ground side.  Even in the dress rehearsal the training team still throws in a number of things that go wrong, but nothing that will stop the EVA early to make it run like on a real day.  At the end the FCT team undergoes a in-depth debrief to talk about what each flight control position did well and what they did not do well.

All this training will prepare the FCT to respond to any problems that will arise during EVA # 22.

Space Suit Testing in Utah

From February 5th to February 10th 2012 I was part of a team from the University of North Dakota's Spacesuit Lab to travel to Hanksville, UT to analog field test UND's NDX-1 Spacesuit at the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station with personnel from NASA Ames Research Center Center.

Me in the NDX-1 Suit without the Helmet

Testing was done to compare geology tasks completed in the suit vs. the same tasks preformed without the suit.    The personnel from NASA Ames will publish their findings in the future.  

Me in the Suit Pointing at the Sky

Also this allowed the field testing of the Bio-Medical Sensing System that the North Dakota State University developed for the UND Spacesuit Lab.

On the move in the NDX-1 Suit

More of this can be seen at human.space.edu or the Spacesuit Lab's field testing blog: http://spacesuitlab.blogspot.com/