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Astronaut Luca Parmitano’s Chilling First-Hand Account of His Mishap in Space
“Space is a harsh, inhospitable frontier and we are explorers, not colonisers.” – ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano
On July 16, Expedition 36 astronauts Chris Cassidy and Luca Parmitano had to cut a planned 7-hour spacewalk short after only an hour and a half due to a malfunction in Parmitano’s space suit, leaking water into his helmet and eventually cutting off his vision, hearing, and communications. Fortunately the Italian test pilot was able to safely return inside the ISS, but for several minutes he was faced with a pretty frightening situation: stuck outside Space Station with his head in a fishbowl that was rapidly filling with water.
On August 20, he shared his personal account of the event on the ESA blog.
“The only idea I can think of is to open the safety valve by my left ear: if I create controlled depressurisation, I should manage to let out some of the water, at least until it freezes through sublimation, which would stop the flow. But making a ‘hole’ in my spacesuit really would be a last resort…”
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Read the rest of Astronaut Luca Parmitano’s Chilling First-Hand Account of His Mishap in Space (733 words)
© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: astronaut, esa, expedition 36, helmet, ISS, Parmitano, Space Station, space suit, water
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/104252/astronaut-luca-parmitanos-chilling-first-hand-account-of-his-mishap-in-space/
