Astronauts Face Ammonia Leak And Minor Glove Damage During Spacewalk

Kjell Lindgren, a NASA astronaut, was on a scheduled 6 1/2 hour spacewalk with International Space Station commander Scott Kelly when he encountered an ammonia leak and a while later his commander had to deal with minor glove damage. You wouldn’t want anything to go wrong when you’re literally out in space but the trained professionals know how to handle such situations, and NASA has already confirmed that none of the issues posed any threat to the safety of the two astronauts.

The astronauts were performing a plumbing job outside the International Space Station. This was the second spacewalk for Kelly and Lindgren in less than a fortnight.

During the mission Lindgren reported back to Mission Control that flakes of toxic ammonia were leaking out intermittently as he was making connections in a cooling line, though he reported to Mission Control that it looked like a small leak.

He did fix the issue, but suit contamination remained the concern, the astronauts had to make sure that all traces of ammonia were eliminated by the sun before they entered the relative safety of the ISS. This wasn’t the first time a spacewalker encountered leaking hazardous material and the outdoor cleanup procedures have always worked in the past.

After a few minutes the commander reported to Mission Control about a stitch poking out of his glove, he said that it looked like a loop, Houston soon determined that the damage was minor and only superficial.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: International Space Station, NASA, Space