Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick, the crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 71, will not conduct an extravehicular activity (EVA) that was scheduled to start on Thursday morning (June 13). According to a space agency blog post, the duo had already started putting on their spacesuits when NASA announced the postponement of the EVA.
The call came around 6:25 a.m. CDT (1025 GMT), about an hour before Dyson and Dominick were about to egress the ISS from the Quest airlock.
NASA had already started livestreaming the EVA procedures when the announcement was made. “Spacewalkers Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick were preparing for US EVA 90 — spacewalk 90 — today, but today’s spacewalk will not be proceeding as planned,” a NASA commentator said on the stream just after the postponement decision was made, adding, “we’re standing by for more information, and we will share as we learn that.”
Why Did NASA Postpone Astronauts’ ISS Spacewalk?
A NASA update said the call was made due to a “spacesuit discomfort issue,” but did not specify which astronaut had the problem.
One of the crew members assisting Dyson and Dominick was NASA astronaut Suni Williams, seen in NASA’s livestream. Williams recently arrived at the space station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as a part of the capsule’s Crew Flight Test (CFT). Suni and her CFT crewmate NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore docked with the station a day after their June 5 rocket launch and were scheduled to depart about a week later. However, their return to Earth was pushed to June 18, citing preparations for today’s EVA as part of the reason. It is not clear whether the changes to this morning’s EVA will affect Wilmore and Williams’ departure from the space station.
However, its return to Earth was postponed until June 18, with preparations for the EVA cited as one of the reasons. It is unclear whether changes to the current EVA will affect the departure of Wilmore and Williams from the space station.
NASA said that the cancellation of the spacewalk came after audio recordings of an ISS emergency medical drill caused a media stir Wednesday evening when it accidentally aired live on NASA livestreams. NASA said there was no emergency situation on the ISS.
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