The space suits in use on the ISS are 35 years old.
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As Astronaut’s Helmet Filled With Water, He Told NASA 3 Times It Wasn’t From Drinking Bag
While NASA’s Mission Control “performed admirably” during a spacewalk water leak crisis in July, a report on the incident showed that controllers did not send astronaut Luca Parmitano back to the airlock until after he made three calls saying the water didn’t appear to be from a drinking bag. There are several reasons this happened,…
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Terrifying!
Mmmm, “normalization of deviance”….
Well, according to the report, it was supposed to be impossible for that fan failure to allow water to enter the suit helmet.
And it was impossible, as long as you did all your tests under one gravity.
Unfortunately things act differently in free fall.
Not to mention COTS components can be tougher than you think.