xii
ventured into the cosmic void, protected by bulky suits that shield them from the
deadly rays of the sun. 180 EVAs have been conducted many times over the course
of ten years just to assemble the ISS.
That day in July, Cassidy and Parmitano’s spacewalk seemed like a simple routine task, but after half an hour, the Italian astronaut felt the presence of water in
his helmet. The amount of liquid increased quickly. Parmitano even tried drinking
the water bubbles that came close to his lips to avoid drowning in the suit, which
was supposed to protect him from such dangers.
At the NASA control center down in Houston, flight controllers watched these
events in terror. Forty minutes of distress followed. The astronaut had no visibility
in his helmet and no radio communication. Every little movement – simple on
Earth – required tremendous effort in the darkness of space. Although his colleague was only a few dozen yards away, he in his white space suit was prey to an
icy loneliness that few have truly known. Parmitano eventually managed to move
with great effort and was able to return inside the station, fully exhausted and with
his helmet nearly full with water.
Parmitano describes his EVA in the following way:
1
my eyes are closed as I listen to Chris’ voice as it reports the pressure of
the atmosphere inside the airlock, now close to zero. It is not tiredness. On
the contrary, I feel charged, as if electricity, and not blood, was running
through my veins, but I want to make sure I can taste and remember
everything.
I am mentally preparing myself to open the hatch, because I will be the
first one to leave the station, and maybe I am lucky that it is night out
there: at least there will be nothing to distract me. When I read 0.5 psi, I
know it’s time to turn the handle, and then lift the hatch.
Outside it is pitch black, not a colour but the total absence of light. A
black scene that swallows me while I “lean over” to hook our security
cables. And yet I feel perfectly comfortable as I rotate my body to let
Chris out. In a few seconds we finish each other’s checks, then we separate. Although we are both headed more or less to the same area of the
ISS, our route is completely different, dictated by the demands of the
choreography we have meticulously arranged before.
Mine is a direct route, towards the rear of the station, while Chris will first
go ahead and then “wrap” his cable around the Z1, the central pylon above
Node1.
At that moment, none of us, in orbit or on the ground, can know how
much this choice will affect today’s events.
1
http://blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano/it/2013/08/20/eva-23-exploring-the-frontier/.
Preface
ventured into the cosmic void, protected by bulky suits that shield them from the
deadly rays of the sun. 180 EVAs have been conducted many times over the course
of ten years just to assemble the ISS.
That day in July, Cassidy and Parmitano’s spacewalk seemed like a simple routine task, but after half an hour, the Italian astronaut felt the presence of water in
his helmet. The amount of liquid increased quickly. Parmitano even tried drinking
the water bubbles that came close to his lips to avoid drowning in the suit, which
was supposed to protect him from such dangers.
At the NASA control center down in Houston, flight controllers watched these
events in terror. Forty minutes of distress followed. The astronaut had no visibility
in his helmet and no radio communication. Every little movement – simple on
Earth – required tremendous effort in the darkness of space. Although his colleague was only a few dozen yards away, he in his white space suit was prey to an
icy loneliness that few have truly known. Parmitano eventually managed to move
with great effort and was able to return inside the station, fully exhausted and with
his helmet nearly full with water.
Parmitano describes his EVA in the following way:
1
my eyes are closed as I listen to Chris’ voice as it reports the pressure of
the atmosphere inside the airlock, now close to zero. It is not tiredness. On
the contrary, I feel charged, as if electricity, and not blood, was running
through my veins, but I want to make sure I can taste and remember
everything.
I am mentally preparing myself to open the hatch, because I will be the
first one to leave the station, and maybe I am lucky that it is night out
there: at least there will be nothing to distract me. When I read 0.5 psi, I
know it’s time to turn the handle, and then lift the hatch.
Outside it is pitch black, not a colour but the total absence of light. A
black scene that swallows me while I “lean over” to hook our security
cables. And yet I feel perfectly comfortable as I rotate my body to let
Chris out. In a few seconds we finish each other’s checks, then we separate. Although we are both headed more or less to the same area of the
ISS, our route is completely different, dictated by the demands of the
choreography we have meticulously arranged before.
Mine is a direct route, towards the rear of the station, while Chris will first
go ahead and then “wrap” his cable around the Z1, the central pylon above
Node1.
At that moment, none of us, in orbit or on the ground, can know how
much this choice will affect today’s events.
1
http://blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano/it/2013/08/20/eva-23-exploring-the-frontier/.
Preface