NASA's spacesuits are getting old. The extra-vehicular mobility units were designed and built for spacewalks outside of NASA. The crew of the International Space Station can live and work in the vacuum of space for extended periods of time, thanks to the EMUs. At the end of the most recent spacewalk on March 23, NASA's Kayla Barron discovered water in the helmet of German astronauts as she helped them remove their suits.
In microgravity, water can bead up in clumps and cling to the face and eyes, causing serious danger to the astronauts inside a leaking suit. Future spacewalks have been put on hold.
NASA officials said at a press conference on May 17 that the upcoming Extravehicular Activities would be paused.
There were two upcoming EVAs in August and November. The spacewalks were supposed to upgrade the station's power systems, but will only go ahead after a careful inspection of the malfunctioning suit.
They haven't found the cause of the problem yet. Wiegel said that they are not seeing that yet.
New spacesuit designs are in the works, but they will be tailored for the upcoming Artemis program. With the retirement of the International Space Station in the next decade, the likelihood of new EMUs is small. According to the Office of the Inspector General report, eighteen EMUs were manufactured during the shuttle era, and of these, eleven remain, four of which are on the station, while the rest are used on the ground for testing and training.
That doesn't mean we won't see more of them in the future. Additional precautions could enable the EVA schedule to proceed if further testing finds the source of the fault. Water samples from the failed suit will be returned to Earth for analysis, which will help determine where the leak originated.
In the last decade, there have been several upgrades to the EMUs to protect against water, which is required in the suits for both drinking and cooling. In the event that water covers the astronauts mouth and nostrils, an absorbent pad was added to the back of his head. The changes were instigated by a close call when Luca Parmitano found his helmet filled with water. He had to cut his spacewalk short and return to the safety of the station to deal with the dangerous situation before his airway was cut off.
NASA would consider using the EMUs in an emergency if necessary.
Depending on what has failed and what the risk is to the mission overall, we will look at where we are with the investigation, where we are with the additional mitigations that we are putting in place and
The Sokol spacesuits used by Russian crew members aboard the International Space Station still function, as well as providing a secondary option in case of an emergency.
The Boeing Starliner, which docked with the International Space Station during an uncrewed test flight on May 20th, received additional absorption pads for installation into the EMU helmets last week. As the investigation continues, it will become clear what additional EMU upgrades are required.
On March 23, 2022, NASA's Matthias Maurer carries out a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Water was found in his helmet at the end of the EVA.
Additional reading.
The spacesuits aboard the station declared a no-go pending analysis of the helmet water leak.
NASA has stopped routine spacewalks due to a helmet issue.
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