If you’re going to spend 6.5 hours laboring outside the International Space Station, you want to feel comfortable in your spacesuit. A spacewalk with two NASA astronauts was called off shortly before it was set to start on June 13. The spacewalk “did not proceed as scheduled due to a spacesuit discomfort issue,”Astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matt Dominick were tasked with removing a faulty electronics box called a radio frequency group from a communications antenna.
Spacewalk procedures had been moving along like normal. NASA TV’s live coverage of preparations showed the astronauts dressed in their suits and moving their arms and legs as part of pre-breathing exercises. The exercises involve breathing in pure oxygen to reduce nitrogen in their bodies to avoid decompression sickness. This is a danger scuba divers can face as well.
At one point, the space station ground team received a request for a “private medical conference” from one of the astronauts. “Astronauts have the ability to speak to flight doctors multiple times a week and, of course, they are on call during strenuous activities like spacewalks,” said livestream host Leah Cheshier. NASA called off the spacewalk shortly after the conference.