Cosmonaut Told to "Drop Everything" and Return to Airlock

cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev was told by mission control to "drop everything and start going back right away" two and a half hours into a planned six and a half hour space walk.

According to NASA Houston control commentary, the problem was a light fluctuation in the battery power of his suit.

"Oleg, you must return to the airlock as soon as possible because if you lose power, it is not only the pumps and the fan, you will lose comm," the flight controller said. You have to return.

According to NASA mission control, Artemyev was never in any danger when he returned to the Russian segment's Poisk airlock.

A potentially hairy situation that played out like a horror movie, as both cosmonauts were operating in the pitch black of outer space, with only their space suit lights illuminating the scene in eerie video, occurred when the cosmonaut was able to hook up to space station power.

Artemyev is back inside Poisk - on Station power - and sounds fine. Matveev is still outside, and waiting for controllers to work on the forward plan. They got to 2.5 hours into the EVA. pic.twitter.com/JN3Al0UQbE

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) August 17, 2022

Standing By

Two cosmonauts were installing cameras on the space station before the incident.

"Artemyev's suit is not showing normal power levels; it's clear there's no emergency, but not yet clear if today's spacewalk will continue," William Harwood said.

Stay informed as the story develops.

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