14 DAY TRIAL // Over the weekend, NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, both members of Expedition 38 aboard the International Space Station, stepped outside the spacecraft in the first of three extravehicular activities (EVA) meant to address an issue with the space lab's cooling system.
The spacewalk lasted around 5 hours and 28 minutes, and all mission objectives were successfully completed. The main goal was to remove a faulty ammonia pump from Cooling Loop A on the station's cooling system, which failed less than two weeks ago.
Originally, NASA scheduled spacewalks for December 21, 23, and 25, but the second of the three was delayed by 24 hours, until tomorrow, December 24. This deviation from schedule occurred because the spacesuit Rick Mastracchio wore outside the station exhibited an issue.
According to ISS Mission Control, some water may have entered the spacesuit as the astronaut was preparing to exit the station. The infiltration most likely occurred as Mastracchio was still inside the airlock that connects the station to its surrounding space.
The NASA flight control team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, told the astronaut to use a spare spacesuit during Tuesday’s spacewalk, to minimize any potential risks. “The extra day will allow time for the crew to resize a spare spacesuit on the space station for use by Mastracchio,” NASA officials said in a statement.
“During repressurization of the station’s airlock following the spacewalk, a spacesuit configuration issue put the suit Mastracchio was wearing in question for the next excursion – specifically whether water entered into the suit’s sublimator inside the airlock,” the statement went on to say.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano experienced a worrying spacesuit glitch during a spacewalk he carried out in July, where water flooded his helmet. Mastracchio and Hopkins both reported dry conditions inside their spacesuits throughout Saturday's spacewalk.
NASA TV will broadcast the Christmas Eve spacewalk, which is scheduled to start around 1220 GMT. Live coverage will begin at 1115 GMT, Space reports.
Due to the delays in spacewalk planning, Orbital Sciences Corporation will most likely not be able to launch its Cygnus spacecraft on a resupply mission to the ISS this year. NASA officials say that the launch will probably occur somewhere around mid-January.