Spacewalk suspended after possible leak reported in American astronaut’s helmet

Both the astronauts went out to fix the issue on a roughly six hours mission, but the mission was cut short in less than five hours due to issue in the helmet of Tim Kopra.

NASA said the crew was never in danger and returned to the airlock “in an orderly fashion”.

NASA has prematurely terminated the extra-vehicular excursion (EVA) – or spacewalk – that Astronauts Time Peake, KG5BVI, and Tim Kopra, KE5UDN, had been undertaking since early this morning. NASA said Kopra used the same suit for a spacewalk last month without any problem, and it had been used previously as well.

Colonel Kopra’s helmet-absorption pad, along with a sample of the water bubble taken with a syringe, will be analysed to determine what caused it to form.

He also said it was cold water, indicating the leak may have come from a cooling loop inside the suit, said Navias. “The country will be watching you make history”.

Foale, however, was an astronaut for NASA, not the European program.

As he prepared to exit the air lock at the start of spacewalk, one of Major Peake’s colleagues, Commander Scott Kelly, remarked it was “really cool” to see the Union flag outside. “Wishing you a happy stroll outdoors in the universe”, British musician Sir Paul McCartney said on Twitter.

Major Tim’s colleague, Tim Kopra, emerged from the airlock first, followed by the Brit spaceman.

The team s work was precisely timed to coincide with a nighttime pass of the space station to avoid sparks from any residual electrical current in the solar-powered equipment.

Down on Earth, 250 miles away, Reid Wiseman was communicating with Peake and Kopra during the fix mission.

“It was quite noticeable”, Kopra later told ground controllers.

The International Space Station called off a spacewalk planned for Thursday afternoon because of a water leak in the helmets of the crewmembers tasked with carrying it out.

Parmitano’s spacewalking partner that day, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, rushed into Mission Control and offered assistance Friday, as soon as he learned what happened to Peake.

Writing in his blog, Major Peake said he felt “exhilarated” by the prospect of walking in space, but said: “I have no time to dwell on these emotions”.