Spacewalk called off after spacesuit coolant leak: "There's literally water everywhere

Spacewalk called off after spacesuit coolant leak: “There’s literally water everywhere”

June 24, 2024 Benjamin Hughes

Floating in the International Space Station’s Quest airlock module, veteran spacewalkers Tracy Dyson and Mike Barratt were preparing to head outside Monday to finish a spacewalk that was called off June 13 when Dyson reported a significant water leak from her spacesuit’s cooling system, saying “there’s literally water everywhere.”

The leak was stopped when Dyson reconnected an umbilical that supplies station power, cooling water and oxygen. The airlock was repressurized, its inner hatch was opened and the astronauts moved into the airlock’s inner compartment where crewmates were standing by to help them out of their bulky spacesuits.

NASA said Dyson and Barratt were never in any danger.

Astronauts return after canceled spacewalk — Astronaut Tracy Dyson, wearing a spacesuit with red stripes, is helped back into the spacewalk staging compartment after a coolant leak prompted flight controllers to call off a planned 6.5-hour spacewalk. Crewmate Michael Barratt can be seen at left as both were assisted by station astronauts Jeanette Epps (in dark shirt) and Matthew Dominick (out of sight behind the others).

NASA

The leak started right after the crew switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:46 a.m. EDT to officially begin the planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. Moments after the switch to battery power, the cooling water in Dyson’s suit began spraying out.

William Harwood

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

Source: cbsnews.com