意大利航天员回忆险些太空溺毙

The Italian astronaut who nearly drowned in his helmet during a spacewalk last month is sharing more details about the terrifying experience, revealing how he felt all alone and frantically tried to come up with a plan to save himself.

Luca Parmitano wrote in his online blog, posted Tuesday, that he could no longer see as the water sloshed around in his helmet outside the International Space Station.

“But worse than that, the water covers my nose — a really awful sensation that I make worse by my vain attempts to move the water by shaking my head,” the former test pilot wrote. “By now, the upper part of the helmet is full of water and I can’t even be sure that the next time I breathe I will fill my lungs with air and not liquid.”

Parmitano, 36, a major in the Italian Air Force making just his second spacewalk, wasn’t sure which direction to head to reach the station’s hatch. He tried to contact his spacewalking partner, American Christopher Cassidy, and Mission Control. Their voices grew faint, and no one could hear him.

“I’m alone. I frantically think of a plan. It’s vital that I get inside as quickly as possible,” he wrote.

Parmitano realized Cassidy — making his way back to the air lock by a different route — could come get him. “But how much time do I have? It’s impossible to know,” he said.

That’s when Parmitano remembered his safety cable. He used the cable recoil mechanism, and its 3 pounds of force, to “pull” him back to the hatch. On the way back, he pondered what he would do if water reached his mouth. The only idea he came up with, he said, was to open the safety valve on his helmet and let out some of the water.

“But making a ‘hole’ in my spacesuit really would be a last resort,” he wrote.

Parmitano said it seemed like an eternity — not just a few minutes — until he peered through “the curtain of water before my eyes” and spotted the hatch. Cassidy was close behind. The astronauts inside quickly began repressurizing the air lock, to get to the spacewalkers.

“The water is now inside my ears and I’m completely cut off,” he said.

He tried to stay as still as possible to keep the water from moving inside his helmet. He knew that because of the repressurization, he could always open his helmet if the water overwhelmed him. “I’ll probably lose consciousness, but in any case, that would be better than drowning inside the helmet,” he wrote.

Cassidy squeezed his glove. Parmitano managed to give the universal OK sign.

“Finally, with an unexpected wave of relief,” Parmitano saw the internal door open, and the crew pulled him out and his helmet off.

He remembers thanking his crewmates “without hearing their words because my ears and nose will still be full of water for a few minutes more.”

NASA has traced the problem to his spacesuit backpack which is full of life-support equipment. But the precise cause is still unknown as the investigation continues into quite possibly the closest call ever during an American-led spacewalk. NASA has suspended all U.S. spacewalks until the problem is resolved.

The Russians, meanwhile, will stage their second spacewalk in under a week, this Thursday, to prepare for the arrival of a new lab by the end of this year. The two countries’ suits are completely different.

More than a month has passed since the July 16 spacewalk, and it’s given Parmitano time to reflect on the dangers surrounding him. The first-time space flier will return to Earth in November.

“Space is a harsh, inhospitable frontier and we are explorers, not colonisers,” he wrote. “The skills of our engineers and the technology surrounding us make things appear simple when they are not, and perhaps we forget this sometimes.

“Better not to forget.”

据美国媒体8月20日报道，上月太空漫步时险因头盔漏水而溺亡的意大利航天员卢卡•帕尔米塔诺在博客中披露了那次可怕的经历。

36岁的帕尔米塔诺是意大利空军少校，当时正在进行他人生中的第二次太空漫步。随着水不断深入头盔，他的视线模糊了， “但更糟糕的是，水淹没了我的鼻子——这真是一种可怕的感觉，我本想通过摇头把水弄走，但这是徒劳的，情况反而更糟糕了，”这名前试飞飞行员写道，“现在头盔上半部分浸满了水，我甚至不确定我下次呼吸时吸进肺的是空气而不是水。”

他不知道那个方向可以通往空间站的舱口。他试着联系太空漫步同伴美国人克里斯托弗•卡西迪和控制中心，但他们的声音微弱，而且也没有人能听到他的声音。

“我孤身一人，我发疯似的想办法，尽快进舱至关重要。”帕尔米塔诺意识到卡西迪可能会来找他，“但我还剩多长时间？不得而知。”

就在这时，帕尔米塔诺想起了他的安全带。他利用了安全带反冲机制，将自己拉回舱口。在这期间，他在考虑如果水到达他的嘴部时该做什么。他说他想到的唯一办法是打开头盔上的安全阀，放掉一些水。

“但在我的航天服上开个‘洞’真是万不得已的最后一招。”他写道。帕尔米塔诺说，这几分钟似乎成了永恒，一直到他透过“眼前水帘”发现舱口。卡西迪则紧随其后。

“水现在已经进入我的耳朵，我被彻底与外界切断了。”他说。帕尔米塔诺尽可能保持不动，防止水继续渗入他的头盔。“我可能将失去意识，但不管怎样，这总比在头盔里淹死好。”

“最终，随着意想不到的轻松，” 帕尔米塔诺看见里面的舱门打开，舱内航天员帮着去掉他的头盔。他向队友致谢，但听不到他们的话，因为他的耳朵和鼻子还浸着水。

美国国家航空航天局（NASA）认为问题出在装有救生设备的背包上，但确切原因仍在调查中。NASA已暂停美国所有的太空漫步计划，直到问题解决。