NASA to resume spacewalks on the ISS in 2025 due to spacesuit leak

NASA plans to resume spacewalks on the space station in 2025 after a leaking suit suspended those activities in June.

“We’re planning our next intake…early next year,” Bill Spetch, NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) program operations and integration manager, said of the spacewalks during an Oct. 25 press conference following the completion of the SpaceX Crew- mission. 8. mission to the orbital complex.

The seal and umbilical connecting the suit to the ISS were replaced, and the damaged suit was successfully restored to pressure, he added. “It’s just a matter of when the time is right,” Spetch said, noting that spacewalks are scheduled between the arrival and departure of spacecraft and the astronauts’ exploration activities.

NASA has suspended all spacesuit spacewalks on the ISS indefinitely after agency astronaut Tracy Dyson experienced a brief coolant leak before exiting the space station’s hatch on June 24. (Russia, the other space station partner, uses an independent set of spacesuits known as Orlan.)

Connected: NASA delays ISS spacewalks indefinitely to investigate suit coolant leak

Dyson and fellow NASA astronaut Mike Barratt opened the door for a 6.5-hour maintenance spacewalk. However, a few minutes later, ice particles burst out from the junction of the suit and the ISS.

The astronauts were never in any danger and the spacewalk missions were not immediately required, NASA said.

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NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson is pictured in her spacesuit before beginning her spacewalk on June 24, 2024, which ended after just 31 minutes due to a coolant leak from the suit’s umbilical. (Image credit: NASA)

“We’ll go look for the next opportunity for where we want to do a spacewalk. This is not time-critical or urgent, and so we will find the best, logical place to do it,” station program manager Dana Weigel of NASA told reporters on a July 17 conference call.

The Dyson suit was one of NASA’s extravehicular mobility units (EMUs) first developed in the 1970s and used in the Space Shuttle program in the 1980s. The suit has extensive flight experience, including helping to build the ISS and maintain the Hubble Space Telescope.

Parts of the electric train can be replaced as needed, but the suit’s design has nonetheless suffered several coolant leaks in recent years. For example, NASA suspended spacewalks for seven months in March 2022 after water was discovered in a spacesuit’s helmet. A more notable incident occurred in July 2013 when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano’s helmet filled with water during his spacewalk, prompting an investigation and action.

NASA is asking the private sector to provide new spacesuits for several programs, including low-Earth orbit activities. The EMU leans toward larger, more masculine sizes, given that it was developed half a century ago when male astronauts (drawn from the male-dominated military) made up NASA’s corps.

Collins Aerospace was expected to supply new suits for the ISS, but withdrew from the contract in June because the expected timeline “did not meet the space station’s schedule and NASA’s mission objectives.” At the time, NASA confirmed the termination of the contract but did not announce its next steps.

NASA to resume spacewalks on the ISS in 2025 due to spacesuit leak

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