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I almost drowned in space when my helmet filled with water

New Scientist·#author.fullName}·about 1 month ago
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Luca Parmitano during a spacewalk on 9 July 2013 ESA/NASA When the water reached my face, it spread over my nose and up into my nostrils in an instant. I was almost blinded, I couldn’t hear anything and I couldn’t breathe through my nose. I already knew I needed to reach the airlock and get back inside the International Space Station. The key question: how long did I have before the water reached my mouth and I couldn’t breathe at all? When you go on a spacewalk, you enter a new world. It’s an incredibly privileged perspective. Inside the ISS and looking through the windows of the cupola , you’re still inhabiting the safe world of the space station. It’s like staring into a large and really beautiful aquarium. But when I leave the ISS for a spacewalk, I am immersed in the void. I’m in an environment that doesn’t need me. If I wasn’t inside my spacesuit, I would be dead within minutes. The infinite horizon of stars and blackness is so vivid.…

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