Astronauts are conducting a “spacewalk revision” in orbit after a coolant leak canceled a planned excursion on Monday (June 24), NASA officials said in an update.
NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mike Barratt aborted their spacewalk while still in the hatch of the International Space Station (ISS) due to a coolant leak in Dyson’s spacesuit. Today (June 25), NASA said the crew is reviewing what to do next in consultation with Mission Control. “Barratt began troubleshooting Dyson’s spacesuit Tuesday morning and inspecting the spacesuit components,” NASA officials wrote in a brief update that mentions “spaceflight review” in the title. “After that, [Barratt] joined Dyson for ongoing progress reviews with fellow astronauts Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps for future spacewalks.”
For now, NASA’s next spacewalk is still scheduled for July 2, after Monday’s aborted 31-minute excursion that was supposed to last 6.5 hours. What happens next will be determined by the ongoing investigation. Spaceflights have been suspended for months at a time after past coolant leaks in orbit.
The ISS crew reported “literally water everywhere” in the hatch and a “blizzard” of ice flakes visible only outside, but everyone dealt with the situation in no time. The astronauts were never in danger, NASA officials emphasized repeatedly during a live broadcast on NASA TV.
Investigating the cause may take some time. The astronauts were seen on air yesterday taking photos of the two suits, including the servicing and cooling umbilical (SCU) area on Dyson’s suit, where water appeared to be emerging. The SCU is designed to connect to the ISS airlock when the astronauts are in the hatch preparing for the final stages of undocking for the EVA.
Coolant leaks have occurred several times in recent years. In March 2022, for example, NASA instituted a seven-month hiatus in spacewalks after water was found in the helmet of a space suit.
A more serious incident occurred in 2013 when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano’s helmet filled with water during an extravehicular activity (EVA), necessitating a rapid return to the hatch. A subsequent NASA investigative report suggested several corrective measures to prevent this from happening again, which agency officials began implementing on future spacewalks.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft was expected to leave the ISS sometime after July 2, ending its first mission with astronauts that launched on June 5, in part because of a spacewalk scheduled for that day. However, the Starliner remains docked pending overhaul and testing of its thruster and helium supply systems after problems were discovered on June 6 that delayed its arrival at the ISS. NASA Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams participated in that testing and are now on additional ISS maintenance tasks, according to a NASA update on Tuesday.
Starliner’s roughly 10-day mission to the ISS has now lasted nearly three weeks and counting, although both Boeing and NASA stress that the nature of development missions is such that unexpected events often fall outside of planned schedules. Part of the rationale for extending the mission is to observe the behavior of the service module as this part (with most of the fuel and power) separates during landing.
According to earlier comments by NASA Commercial Crew Manager Steve Stich, the spacecraft is technically rated to stay on the station for 45 days. NASA has promised a full update on Starliner in the near future. This means that the Starliner crew can still leave orbit if needed; NASA emphasizes that the spacecraft is intended for rapid exit if an emergency occurs on the ISS requiring evacuation.