Nasa calls off a spacewalk after astronaut's suit observes water leakage

This is the second time Nasa has called off the spacewalk, after one had to be postponed when an astronaut reported discomfort in the spacesuit earlier this month

Nasa cancelled the spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS) after water leaked from an astronaut's spacesuit on Monday. Astronauts Tracy Dyson and Mike Barratt opened the hatch to the space station's airlock when Dyson reported water leakage from her suit's cooling system. The leakage occurred when Dyson switched her spacesuit to battery power. The astronauts hadn't floated outside yet. 

The incident took place before the astronauts had the chance to venture outside the space station. While describing the situation, Barratt said, "There's literally water everywhere here now."

The spacewalk was scheduled to last nearly seven hours and its objective was to remove a malfunctioning communication box and gather microbe samples from the exterior of the orbiting laboratory.

The mission duration was cut short only after 30 minutes. The astronauts were not in danger due to the malfunction. 

Ice crystals emanating from the port on the SCU, Astronaut Dyson reported, resembled a snow machine. According to Space.com, Dyson told Mission Control, "I could see the ice crystals were flowing out there, and then, just like a snow machine, there was ice forming at that port on the SCU."

During the live broadcast, astronaut Butch Wilmore said the scene was 'a pretty impressive snowstorm.' This is the second incident when the spacewalk was postponed, the same incident occurred earlier this month. In the first attempt on June 13 which involved a different astronaut team, Matt Dominick and Tracy Dyson, the spacewalk was delayed as Matt Dominick observed a 'spacesuit discomfort' issue. Another spacewalk is all set to take place on July 2, but it remains to be seen whether the team can go ahead with the manoeuvre after these incidents.