The Spacesuit That Nearly Drowned an Astronaut

In July 2013, 44 minutes into a spacewalk, astronaut Luca Parmitano felt water on the back of his head. In orbit, water doesn't fall. It clings, and it crawls. Before he made it back inside, it covered his eyes, his nose and his ears. How does a sealed spacesuit fill with water? To find out, we start the night before, and build the ISS spacesuit (the EMU) one problem at a time: why astronauts breathe pure oxygen for hours first, why their bodies could fizz like soda, how one suit survives 16 sunrises a day, and the tiny jetpack nobody has ever had to use. 0:00 44 Minutes In 0:33 The Night Before 2:41 Suiting Up 4:01 Sixteen Sunrises 5:02 Water in the Helmet 6:39 If the Tether Lets Go 7:21 Back Inside Previously: Why Astronauts Didn't Boil on the Moon (the Apollo A7L spacesuit). Sources NASA Mishap Investigation Board, International Space Station (ISS) EVA Suit Water Intrusion High Visibility Close Call (IRIS S-2013-199-00005, Dec 2013) Steele et al., Failure Analysis Results and Corrective Actions Implemented for the EMU 3011 Water in the Helmet Mishap (ICES 2015) NASA Office of Inspector General, NASA's Management of the International Space Station Extravehicular Activity Spacesuits (IG-25-012, 2025) NASA Office of Inspector General, NASA's Management and Development of Spacesuits (IG-17-018, 2017) NASA JSC fact sheet, Extravehicular Mobility Unit (FS-2019-07-JSC-EA010) Conkin, Norcross, Wessel et al., Evidence Report: Risk of Decompression Sickness (NASA Human Research Program, 2013) NESC, Prebreathe Protocol for Extravehicular Activity, Technical Consultation Report (2008) NESC, In-Suit Light Exercise (ISLE) Prebreathe Protocol Peer Review Assessment (2011) Williams & Baughman, Self-Rescue Strategies for EVA Crewmembers Equipped with the SAFER Backpack (1994) NASA, Suited for Spacewalking: A Teacher's Guide with Activities (EG-1998-03-112-HQ) Photos: NASA (JSC2016-E-014543, ISS036-E-019555, ISS036-E-037249, ISS036-E-019886). 3D models and animation are illustrative reconstructions; the astronaut's face is a generic model, and layers, bubbles and water are simplified for clarity. Music: "Intergalactic" and "The Light" by Alex Jones & Xander Jones; "Frame-Dragging" by The Grey Room / Density & Time (YouTube Audio Library).