NASA’s 90th spacewalk, scheduled for Monday at the International Space Station (ISS), was canceled due to a water leak in the service and cooling unit of astronaut Tracy C. Dyson’s spacesuit. Dyson and her companion, Mike Barratt, activated power in their suits and opened the hatch to the station’s Quest module before reporting the water problem.
The ISS team is collaborating with ground controllers to re-pressurize the closing section of the airlock before returning inside the station’s equipment module.
During the spacewalk, the crew was scheduled to remove a faulty electronics box of a communications antenna on the starboard structure of the station. Additionally, they intended to collect samples for analysis to understand the ability of microorganisms to survive and reproduce outside the orbital laboratory.
Crew safety is the top priority, and this incident underscores the importance of the rigorous safety procedures followed on the ISS. As the water leak is investigated and resolved, a new date will be planned to carry out the scheduled tasks on this spacewalk.
