Ever wondered what it
would be like to take a spacewalk? Stunning new GoPro video released by NASA is
about as close as any of us will ever get.
The video was taken by astronaut Terry Virts during two
spacewalks on the International Space Station earlier this
year.During the first spacewalk, on February 25, Colonel Virts and Barry Wilmore prepared for the arrival of two docking adaptors by routing a series of cables.
The second extravehicular activity, on March 1, features the pair installing several antennas for use with the communications for visiting vehicles.
The full video has since been uploaded to YouTube and is simply out of this world.
The spacewalk appears to follow an incident in which Colonel Virts found water pooling inside his helmet after he finished a seven-hour mission. He was not harmed during the incident, which the US space agency described as “minor”
Colonel Virts did not notice any water during the space walk, as he toiled for hours to lubricate the latching mechanisms on a robotic arm and helped his colleague get the space station’s exterior ready for the arrival of commercial spaceships carrying astronauts in the coming years.
It was only after Colonel Virts was done, and had re-entered the Quest airlock, that he began to feel dampness on the back of his head and saw water pooling near the front of his headpiece.
The water inside Colonel Virts’ helmet was “kind of pooling on the front side of his helmet above the eye level”, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti told mission control in Houston.
The water was “about three inches in diameter”, she said, noting that the amount of water had increased in the moments since he first noticed it.
For more stunning images from space, you can follow Colonel Virts on Twitter.
First picture:
The astronauts were helping to get the space station’s exterior ready for the arrival of commercial spaceships carrying astronauts in the coming years.
Second picture:
Astronaut Terry Virts gets the GoPro ready for action.
Third picture:
Colonel Virts surveys the scene on his spacewalk
With many thanks to The Australian
