An astronaut's near-drowning in space during a spacewalk in July could have been avoided, according to NASA.
Luca Parmitano suffered a failure of his spacesuit, 45 minutes after leaving the space station. This mishap filled his helmet with nearly two quarts of water, preventing him from clearing his eyes, nose or mouth, and the failure could have been deadly. Out in space with the Italian astronaut was Chris Cassidy.
An exact cause of the accident is under investigation by NASA's Mishap Board. During a press conference, mission managers said the were surprised at the mishap, but that same spacesuit had a leak just one week before, when Parmitano first donned the suit to step outside the International Space Station. When investigators looked into the incident on 9 July, they mis-diagnosed the source of the water as a leaking drink bag.
"The event was not properly investigated, which could have prevented putting a crew member at risk a week later," Chris Hansen, Mishap Investigation Board chairman, told reporters during a teleconference.
Some investigators are questioning how long the space agency has allowed the known problems with spacesuits to continue. NASA has consistently underestimated danger from frozen O-rings and damage to space shuttles from falling ice. Those problems destroyed the shuttles Challenger and Columbia, killing seven astronauts in each accident.
The spacesuit Parmitano was wearing was a 35-year-old design. NASA has just 12 of the suits remaining in its inventory. Two others were lost when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry in 2003.
A preliminary investigation of the accident traced the problem to a blocked water separator inside the suit. Officials believe it became contaminated with aluminum silicate. The problem did not seem to be related to the age of the design, according to officials from the space agency.
After scrambling back into the relative safety of the space station, Parmitano said he was shaken, but unharmed. Investigators are stating the calm behavior of the former test pilot during the accident may have saved his life. Officials are labeling this incident one of the most hazardous events to happen in the history of space travel. This was the first space mission for the Italian astronaut, who returned to Earth in November.
After the accident, NASA ended most spacewalks. An exception was made in December, as two astronauts conducted a spacewalk to repair a cooling system aboard the ISS. They had snorkels and absorbent pads inside their helmets in case the problem happened again, but the problem did not resurface.
