The two NASA astronauts’ planned spacewalk for today, June 13, has been rescheduled.
Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick, members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 71 crew, will not be participating in an extravehicular activity (EVA) that was supposed to start this Thursday, June 13. A space agency blog post this morning stated that when NASA announced the postponing of the EVA, the two had already started putting on their spacesuits.
The communication was received about an hour before Dyson and Dominick were scheduled to leave the ISS via the Quest airlock, at 6:25 a.m. CDT (10:25 GMT).
The statement was made after NASA had started streaming today’s EVA proceedings live. “We’re standing by for more information, and we will share as we learn it,” a NASA commentator said on the stream shortly after the postponement decision 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 update shortly after said that the contact was made because of a “spacesuit discomfort issue,” although it did not say which astronaut was having the issue.
NASA astronaut Suni Williams was one among the crew members helping Dyson and Dominick; she was visible on NASA’s video. As part of the capsule’s Crew Flight Test (CFT), Williams just arrived to the space station on Boeing’s Starliner aircraft. A day after their rocket launch on June 5, Suni and her fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, who was part of the CFT crew, docked with the station. They were expected to leave approximately a week later. But, due in part to preparations for today’s EVA, their return to Earth was pushed back to June 18. It’s unclear how today’s EVA modifications would impact Wilmore and Williams’ exit from the space station.
The cancelation of the spacewalk comes after audio from an emergency medical drill conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) went viral on Wednesday night after inadvertently airing live on NASA livestreams. NASA confirmed there was no emergency aboard the International Space Station.