NASA cancels ISS spacewalk after 'spacesuit discomfort'

Clyde Hughes
·1 min read
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UPI
The NASA logo is seen during a news briefing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on January 22, 2009. NASA said it canceled a spacewalk on Thursday. File Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/UPI

June 13 (UPI) -- NASA called off a spacewalk Thursday morning at the International Space Station because of an issue with one of the space suits, officials said.

Astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matt Dominick were in their suits and set to step out of the ISS when the mission was scrubbed.

"The spacewalk today, June 13, at the International Space Station, did not proceed as scheduled due to a spacesuit discomfort issue," NASA said.

NASA did not say which astronaut experienced the spacesuit discomfort or give any details about what caused it. The space agency so far has not given a date for a retry of the spacewalk. Future spacewalks are already scheduled for June 24 and July 2.

The astronauts were expected to scrape microorganisms from the outside of the International Space Station in a study of the possible origins of life. They were also scheduled to remove a faulty electrics box on the ISS.

The microorganism samples Dyson and Dominick will retrieve will be for future analysis to understand how the organisms survive and reproduce on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory. Solar radiation can make temperatures differ greatly, going from 248 degrees Fahrenheit to minus-148.

The astronauts are also expected to examine extremophiles, which researchers believe can survive in the harsh environment of space for long stretches of time.