Helmet Leak Abruptly Ends Spacewalk, Mission Still Accomplished

Astronauts Tim Kopra and Tim Peake were forced to abandon a spacewalk about two hours early on Friday after Kopra reported a few droplets of water congealing inside his spacesuit.

Back in 2013, a similar leak turned life-threatening when the water blocked Italian Luca Parmitano’s vision entirely, requiring NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy to assist him back to the International Space Station.

While Kopra’s situation did not rise to the same level of severity, regulations in place since the 2013 incident mandated the walk be terminated immediately. After four hours, 47 minutes of space walking, the two astronauts had already completed the main objective of the mission: to “repair a failed voltage regulator that compromised one of the station’s eight power channels last November.”

Once the two were back inside the ISS, Scott Kelly took a sample of the moisture from Kopra’s helmet for further testing. Both Kopra and Peake seemed unfazed by the incident, posting a number of celebratory tweets recounting the mission.

The spacewalk was Peake’s very first, and he still managed to snap an inaugural space selfie before the mission came to its abrupt end.

Some people have made fun of Peake for appearing worried about what space had in store for him, but as far as we can tell, he was having the time of his life before having to return to the ISS interior.

And even if the walk ended a little early, Peake did still make history for his country, becoming the first Briton, without dual-American citizenship, to walk around in space.

That’s definitely something to be proud of, and with another five months in space, we’re hopeful he’ll get another chance.