Astronaut Maurer completes ISS field mission
Created: 2022-03-23Updated: 2022-03-24 05:31
Matthias Maurer (l), German ESA astronaut, and Raja Chari, US NASA astronaut.
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
Matthias Maurer is the fourth German to leave the cosmos.
During dangerous and strenuous outdoor work on the ISS space station, the ESA astronaut successfully took on maintenance work for almost seven hours - with a moment of shock at the end.
Cologne/Houston - The astronaut Matthias Maurer was the fourth German in space history to leave the International Space Station ISS for a successful external mission - but in the end he experienced a moment of shock.
When the Saarlander re-entered the ISS after 6 hours and 54 minutes in the open cosmos on Wednesday together with his US colleague Raja Chari, some water was discovered in his helmet, as the US space agency Nasa announced during its live broadcast.
Maurer was "in good health" and "not in danger," NASA said.
The incident should be investigated.
The incident brings back memories of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano.
When he was stationed on the ISS in 2013, so much water collected in his helmet that he almost drowned.
According to NASA information, no water had collected in the helmet of Maurer's field service colleague Chari on Wednesday.
Maurer had already had to contend with minor problems during the mission: First, a loose camera on his helmet, which was then provisionally fixed with wire, temporarily delayed the work.
After that, he became tangled in his tethers, but was able to free himself with the help of instructions from the control center.
Nevertheless, Maurer and Chari had completed their most important tasks, according to NASA.
The two astronauts got out to attach new hoses to a cooling system, replace a camera and set up power and data connections on the external European research platform "Bartolomeo".
Some tasks that were not quite as urgent had been postponed to a future field assignment.
US astronauts Kayla Barron, Thomas Marshburn and Mark Vande Hei aboard the ISS helped Maurer and Chari re-enter and get out of their spacesuits.
After boarding, while still in his space suit, Maurer raised his arms in a jubilant manner.
"We admire your tenacity and thank you for your work," said the control center at the end of the operation.
Maurer and Chari thanked their colleagues for their support.
For the astronauts from the European space agency Esa, it was the first external mission at around 400 kilometers above the earth.
In advance, he had described it as the "big highlight" of his space flight.
"Today is the day," tweeted the ESA.
It was Chari's second field trip, the first having taken place about a week earlier.
Overall, it was the 248th spacewalk for maintenance work on the ISS and the third this year.
On November 11, Maurer flew with three colleagues from the US space agency Nasa in a US spacecraft to the ISS, where he is to remain until the end of April.
The 52-year-old is the twelfth German in space and the fourth on the ISS.
His three predecessors on the outpost of mankind had also completed a field mission: Thomas Reiter (2006), Hans Schlegel (2008) and Alexander Gerst (2014).
During outdoor missions, astronauts experience extreme temperature differences of minus 150 degrees on the night side and plus 120 degrees on the day side of the ISS.
Cooling and heating are in the suit.
The supply of oxygen in the oxygen tank on the back of the suit, connected to the life support system, will last about eight to ten hours.
To ensure the lower pressure, astronauts must breathe pure oxygen for a period of time to flush nitrogen out of the blood.
Otherwise the so-called diving sickness threatens.
Despite the lower pressure inside, Maurer's US space suit is relatively stiff - astronauts always have to work against this resistance during external missions.
Even the gloves don't make it any easier.
Astronauts describe the necessary fine motor movements on the outer skin of the ISS as if you were working against the resistance of a tennis ball.
This makes the mission in the open cosmos even more exhausting.
The astronauts are attached to the ISS with tethers or a robotic arm.
In addition, they carry the so-called safer system in the free cosmos.
These are small jets in the backpack that are operated with liquid nitrogen.
This allows you to cover small distances when drifting in an emergency.
Chari wore red stripes on his white space suit so that the control center could distinguish between the two astronauts on the screen.
The German flag could also be seen on Maurer's suit.
The field trip took place amid the heightened tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine war.
On Wednesday, both Russia's space agency Roskosmos and NASA once again emphasized their willingness to continue working together on the ISS.
"The professional cooperation between the astronauts and the cosmonauts on board the ISS as well as between the control centers in Houston and in Moscow continues unchanged," NASA boss Bill Nelson said at a press conference.
However, an originally planned field assignment in a Russian space suit for bricklayers, for which he was trained, and work on the new Russian research module did not come about.
more on the subject
Shock at the end: Maurer completes ISS field mission
Ex-space chief Wörner: No walk in the park for bricklayers
The Ukraine War and the Future of the ISS
In addition to Maurer, Chari, Vande Hei, Marshburn and Barron, the Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrow are currently on board the ISS.
The three Russians Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matweyev and Sergey Korsakov were also added last week.
dpa