NASA Astronaut Notices "Slice" in Her Suit's Glove During Spacewalk
It was an exceedingly rare all-female spacewalk, with the goal of mounting a bracket for a future solar array to increase the station's power generation capacity by up to 30 percent.
But as spotted by NASASpaceflight, the six-and-a-half-hour mission wasn't entirely without hiccups. Less than an hour in, McClain noticed a "slice" in the index finger of her right glove, prompting ground control in Houston to have a closer look.
"If it helps, when I bend it, it's kind of right at the corner where the finger bends," McClain told Houston via voice link, "but when I bend it, a little tab opens up."
Once a video streaming connection to McClain's helmet camera was established, the team could finally get a closer look.
"You wanna move it a little closer, so we can have a closer view?" Houston told McClain.
"I can kind of see, it's right at the bend," she answered.
"EV-1, this is Houston, thank you so much for your video, we are assessing and discussing on the ground," mission control said.
Fortunately, the problem wasn't deemed serious enough to impact safety, and the spacewalk proceeded as planned.
"Taking a look, it is a string of the Turtleskin along the seam of the finger," Houston said, referring to a special woven fabric manufactured by NASA contractor Warwick Mills. "No additional checks needed other than keep reporting if you see anything off nominal."
Interestingly, McClain, a current US Army colonel and former professional rugby player, had to wait for her chance to join the all-female spacewalk for six years, as CBS reports, due to spacesuit fitting issues.
In March 2019, NASA scrapped its plans to perform the first-ever spacewalk by two women astronauts — McClain and fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch — after the former realized during a previous walk that a "medium"-sized spacesuit torso would fit her better.
At the time, astronaut Nick Hague took McClain's spot since a spacesuit torso in the right size couldn't be made available in time.
The first women-only spacewalk was ultimately performed by Koch and astronaut Jessica Meir in October 2019, seven months after McCain missed her shot.
NASA has encountered many challenges with its aging EMU suits, from "discomfort issues" to a water leak covering the visor of astronaut Tracy Dyson's suit in ice particles last year.
Women, in particular, have faced spacesuit fit issues for decades. While many of the EMU's modular parts are available in a range of sizes, many components have never fit well, especially for shorter women.
It's an issue that extends far beyond spacesuits as well, especially in male-dominated fields, from ill-fitting army uniforms to fire department safety gear.
A long-awaited successor to NASA's existing EMU, a design that hasn't seen any significant changes since the 1980s, has yet to see the light of day.
Worse yet, the ISS is set to be retired in less than five years, giving the agency less and less time to come up with a replacement.
And the existing suits are starting to show their age, much like the station itself. In a 2022 blog post, NASA explained how the gloves of its EMU suits — each personally fitted to each spacewalker's hands — go through careful inspection prior to every spacewalk. Photography and closer analysis allow ground control to determine whether they're ready for use.
The mission ended positive: more than five years after her missed opportunity, McClain finally got her shot, completing the fifth-ever all-female spacewalk.
More on spacewalks: NASA Contractor Shows Off New Spacesuit for the First Moon Landing in Over Half a Century
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