[karajorma]

Scary stuff!

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/20/astronaut-helmet-drowning-interview

The Italian astronaut who nearly drowned in his helmet during a spacewalk on 16 July has shared more details about the experience, revealing how he frantically tried to devise a plan to save himself.

Luca Parmitano wrote in his blog, posted on Tuesday, that he stopped being able to see when water began sloshing around inside his helmet when he was outside the International Space Station.

"But worse than that, the water covers my nose – a really awful sensation that I make worse by my vain attempts to move the water by shaking my head," the former test pilot wrote. "By now, the upper part of the helmet is full of water and I can't even be sure that the next time I breathe I will fill my lungs with air and not liquid."

Pretty worrying, especially as the article goes on to say that they haven't figured out what caused it yet!

[Lorric]

That was a pretty gripping read.

But they are going to stop the spacewalks until they figure out the problem, and you know they'll take that suit apart piece by piece if they have to.

[headdie]

scary stuff, hope they figure out the problem soon

[Dragon]

That was one close call. I wonder what caused it.

[Rodo]

Creepy stuff.

[SypheDMar]

Sounds like something that might happen in a horror movie set in outer space... I shudder at the thought.

[BloodEagle]

Possible Solution: Oxygen mask, bisected width-wise near the mouth, sealed with some form of re-sticking glue.  You can still open your mouth to get at the water and to speak, and close it in case of another leak.

That is, assuming this wasn't caused by rapid condensation.  I just assume that it was a water leak.

[AtomicClucker]

Yeah, space suits are complicated affairs - it's like a plane dissection and reconstruction after a disaster.

But between a fish bowl and hard vacuum, that's a frightening thought.

[Herra Tohtori]

A murder mystery on a space station could actually have some drama potential. You don't get much closer to an ideal Locked Room Mystery.

I just wonder if it would be more like Hercule Poirot in space, or more like And then there were none...

[Dragon]

I've heard of something like that, a old-ish, short British hard SF series called "Space Cops". I came across it on TV Tropes, haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but I plan to.

[Scourge of Ages]

Space suits are climate controlled with water circulating through tubes throughout the suit right? Probably one just punctured or split or something. Or the in-suit drink bag sprung a leak. A hose could get pinched and weakened.

Both are difficult to imagine, I'm sure those things are inspected harder than a [thing that's inspected a lot]. But accidents happen, and those are the most likely culprits.

EDIT:

Nasa has traced the problem to his spacesuit backpack, which is full of life-support equipment. But the precise cause is still unknown as the investigation continues[...]

[Dragon]

Well, that's probably one of those reasons. There's a lot of highly paid scientists working on finding out which one exactly. It's probably nothing major, a slight design flaw that'll get quickly corrected once it's found. Flaws in such systems are usually incredibly well hidden, considering the rigorous testing and inspections they get.

[Goober5000]

A murder mystery on a space station could actually have some drama potential. You don't get much closer to an ideal Locked Room Mystery.

I just wonder if it would be more like Hercule Poirot in space, or more like And then there were none...

Plot twist: the murderer was somebody in mission control, who accomplished the crime using Robonaut2.

And the reason the leak investigation is taking time to figure out is that it's not a simple puncture in a tube.  It's something along the lines of the cooling system getting backed up and sending water through the ventilation system.

Incidentally, there was another close call during the preliminary suit investigations:

To quickly dry-out the water from the fan, vacuum cleaner was used. During the vacuuming activity, data showed that the Secondary Oxygen Pack (SOP) pressure had dropped about 500 psi. On further review of data, it appears that the pressure drop in the vent loop due to the use of the vacuum cleaner triggered the SOP regulator to allow oxygen to flow from the SOP into the vent loop, then into the vacuum cleaner. Exposing the vacuum cleaner to elevated oxygen levels is a potential fire hazard. As a result, ISS is currently in safety stand-down mode while ground teams are performing rigorous review of the upcoming troubleshooting procedures as well as overall review of the existing processes to approve the troubleshooting procedures.

Chapter 1, Underwater Space Terror.  Chapter 2, Apollo 13 Part II: ISS!

[Phantom Hoover]

THE ORBITING INFERNO, starring Steve McQueen!

[Phantom Hoover]

(in the end they extinguish the fire with a passing comet)

[Mongoose]

As a result, ISS is currently in safety stand-down mode while ground teams are performing rigorous review of the upcoming troubleshooting procedures as well as overall review of the existing processes to approve the troubleshooting procedures.

I know this is how things need to be when dealing with long-term space habitation, but that sentence reads like a bureaucrat's wet dream.

[Dragon]

Yeah. On Earth, that would be one of those ridiculous, overtly bureaucratic procedures. In space, it's just being cautious. Pure O2 isn't something to be messed with.

[Herra Tohtori]

And now I have a terrifying mental image of a spacesuit's backpack having an internal oxygen leak causing a fire or explosion during spacewalk, propelling the astronaut on retrograde direction...

I really have to hope the spacesuits don't get any gremlins in them, as we all know once any piece of technology comes under gremlin infestation it is nearly impossible to clear it.

[headdie]

Bump based on new information

So yer this thread was about the astronaut who nearly drown in space due to water in his helmet.

Well I am watching a series airing in the UK abou the ISS and they have just spoken to the astronaut involved and apparently what happened was a pump in the system that separates moisture from the air to go into their respective scrubbing circuits developed a fault and water started blowing water into the helmet through the vent which brings air into the helmet.

So they replaced the pump and put a few precautions in place such as an absorbent pad behind the head to absorb any water and a breathing tube for emergencies.

The suit was then used a few months later for an emergency repair on the station cooling system

[Scourge of Ages]

The official report!

http://issuu.com/msazriel/docs/suit_water_intrusion_mishap_investi/1