Drop everything and go back immediately… Message received by a passenger doing a spacewalk at the International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS), also known as the second home of astronauts, took place on Wednesday. A Russian cosmonaut’s spacewalk had to be cut short due to an electrical problem with the passenger’s spacesuit. Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev detected voltage fluctuations in the battery power of his spacesuit. He reported this to Moscow Mission Control, after which he was immediately ordered to go to the airlock. Had it been a while, the situation could have worsened.

According to the report, Oleg Artemyev was doing a spacewalk at the International Space Station. As soon as he reported the electrical problem, he got a reply that drop everything and start going back immediately! He was told, Oleg, go back and connect yourself to the station’s power.

Although Artemyev was in no immediate danger, he would have lost communication with fellow spacewalker Denis Matveev and the Moscow control mission if the power of his spacesuit was completely lost. That is why they were asked to connect to the power of the station.

After receiving a message from Moscow Mission Control, Oleg immediately decided to go to the airlock. Because of this, the time of his spacewalk was reduced. He was on the spacewalk for about 6 and a half hours, but a problem with the spacesuit ended the walk in two and a half hours. Artemyev then said that the spacesuit also needed solar panels so that they could be recharged in such a situation. The Russian space agency sent both astronauts Artemyev and Matveev on a spacewalk to continue a European robotic arm that was launched at the orbiting complex in July 2021.

Artemyev is an experienced astronaut. He has done more than 45 hours of spacewalk so far. His partner Denis Matveev also spent 18 hours and 20 minutes in the spacewalk. This was the seventh spacewalk of the year at the International Space Station. Astronauts prepare themselves thoroughly before such missions. All technical aspects are tested, so it is surprising to see an electric problem in the spacesuit. Obviously it will also be investigated for what reasons this happened. Such solutions will also be found, so that in the coming time, there is no problem during the spacewalk.