意大利航天員回憶險些太空溺斃

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.”據美國媒體8月20日報道，上月太空漫步時險因頭盔漏水而溺亡的意大利航天員盧卡•帕爾米塔諾在博客中披露了那次可怕的經歷。

36歲的帕爾米塔諾是意大利空軍少校，當時正在進行他人生中的第二次太空漫步。隨着水不斷深入頭盔，他的視線模糊了， “但更糟糕的是，水淹沒了我的鼻子——這真是一種可怕的感覺，我本想通過搖頭把水弄走，但這是徒勞的，情況反而更糟糕了，”這名前試飛飛行員寫道，“現在頭盔上半部分浸滿了水，我甚至不確定我下次呼吸時吸進肺的是空氣而不是水。”

他不知道那個方向可以通往空間站的艙口。他試着聯繫太空漫步同伴美國人克里斯托弗•卡西迪和控制中心，但他們的聲音微弱，而且也沒有人能聽到他的聲音。

“我孤身一人，我發瘋似的想辦法，儘快進艙至關重要。”帕爾米塔諾意識到卡西迪可能會來找他，“但我還剩多長時間？不得而知。”

就在這時，帕爾米塔諾想起了他的安全帶。他利用了安全帶反衝機制，將自己拉回艙口。在這期間，他在考慮如果水到達他的嘴部時該做什麼。他說他想到的唯一辦法是打開頭盔上的安全閥，放掉一些水。

“但在我的航天服上開個‘洞’真是萬不得已的最後一招。”他寫道。帕爾米塔諾說，這幾分鐘似乎成了永恆，一直到他透過“眼前水簾”發現艙口。卡西迪則緊隨其後。

“水現在已經進入我的耳朵，我被徹底與外界切斷了。”他說。帕爾米塔諾儘可能保持不動，防止水繼續滲入他的頭盔。“我可能將失去意識，但不管怎樣，這總比在頭盔裏淹死好。”

“最終，隨着意想不到的輕鬆，” 帕爾米塔諾看見裏面的艙門打開，艙內航天員幫着去掉他的頭盔。他向隊友致謝，但聽不到他們的話，因爲他的耳朵和鼻子還浸着水。

美國國家航空航天局（NASA）認爲問題出在裝有救生設備的揹包上，但確切原因仍在調查中。NASA已暫停美國所有的太空漫步計劃，直到問題解決。