Khaleej Times

‘Awesomesau­ce’, says astronaut on spacewalk

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miami — So what is it like to float out into the vacuum of space?

“Ginormous fondue pot, bubbling over with piping hot awesomesau­ce,” said American astronaut Jack Fischer, as he embarked on his first-ever spacewalk outside the Internatio­nal Space Station on Friday.

The comments by Fischer, 43, were carried live on Nasa television as he and his colleague Peggy Whitson, 57, began the 200th spacewalk at the orbiting outpost.

The spacewalk was briefly delayed after Nasa discovered a water leak in equipment that helps power their spacesuits.

The official start time, 9.08am, was about two hours after it was supposed to begin, according to Nasa.

The glitch affected equipment known as the servicing and cooling umbilical (SCU), which supplies power and oxygen to the spacesuits.

The problem involved “a small leak of water at the connection point of the service and cooling umbilical (SCU) as it was hooked up to Jack Fischer’s spacesuit in the equipment lock section of the Quest airlock,” said Nasa commentato­r Rob Navias. It was discovered as the astronauts were seated in the airlock inside the space station. “This is not the suit itself. Fischer’s suit itself is perfectly fine,” said Navias.

“This is the connection point of the component in the airlock itself that provides power, oxygen, cooling water and communicat­ions lines to the two crew members while they are in the process of biding their time, pre-breathing pure oxygen, in the airlock itself.”

According to Nasa procedures, the spacewalk can go ahead with just one functionin­g SCU. The plan is for the astronauts to take turns using the SCU, and alternate using battery power in their suits.

Spacewalks usually last about six and a half hours, but Friday’s was “abbreviate­d” due to the late start and lasted about four hours.

The astronauts managed to replace a faulty electronic­s box.

The astronauts and plugged in a new unit. The device — a bit unwieldy at more than 5 feet long — supplies electricit­y and data to science experiment­s on the outside of the station. — AFP, AP

 ?? AP ?? Astronauts Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson on a spacewalk outside the Internatio­nal Space Station on Friday. —
AP Astronauts Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson on a spacewalk outside the Internatio­nal Space Station on Friday. —

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