NASA set to resume routine spacewalks after astronaut helmet water leak incident

NASA has completed an investigation into the cause of moisture being discovered inside European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer's helmet after station airlock re-pressurization following a nearly seven-hour spacewalk in March 2022.

Following the March incident, NASA immediately declared a stop to all future planned U.S. Operating Segment spacewalks pending an investigation into the cause. The agency completed a flight readiness review in October and is now set to resume routine spacewalks outside of the International Space Station (ISS). 

Based on the investigation's results, the additional operational procedures, and mitigation hardware, the NASA management team concurred and approved the return to normal operations.

"The cause for the water in the helmet was likely due to integrated system performance where several variables such as crew exertion and crew cooling settings led to the generation of comparatively larger than normal amounts of condensation within the system," NASA said.

.@NASA is “GO” to resume station spacewalks following an investigation into moisture discovered inside a spacesuit helmet in March. More... https://t.co/oqtD2tbViz pic.twitter.com/CKzC7pO9ry

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 18, 2022

"Crew safety is the top priority of NASA and our international partners. I'm proud of the space station and ground teams' work to keep our crew members safe, for taking the time necessary to close out the investigation, and for continually findings ways to mitigate risks in human spaceflight," said Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate.

In a blog post on Tuesday, NASA said that the first of three planned spacewalks is targeted to begin around mid-November to continue the work to install roll-out solar arrays, called iROSA.