UK astronaut Tim Peake described his first walk in space as “exhilarating”, as he posted photos – including a selfie – of the feat on Twitter.
It will “be etched in my memory forever – quite an incredible feeling,” said Peake, the first astronaut representing the UK to carry out a spacewalk.
He and US colleague Tim Kopra were outside the space station, carrying out repairs, for four hours and 43 minutes.
But their spacewalk was cut short after water leaked into Col Kopra’s helmet.
The pair had already replaced a failed electrical box, which was their main objective.
Nasa is under a ruling to terminate a spacewalk under such circumstances after an incident in 2013, when a European astronaut developed a significant helmet leak and nearly drowned.
“When we found water on the visor, that was when we pulled the trigger and terminated the walk,” said flight director Royce Renfrew, who halted the spacewalk at 16:58 GMT on Friday.
After receiving the instruction, the astronauts immediately started making their way back to the Quest airlock – arriving there about 15 minutes later.
Major Peake thanked mission controllers after the duo were safely inside with the outer airlock hatch closed, saying: “You guys did a great job.”
His first included three photographs and by Saturday morning it had had more than 9,000 retweets and 18,000 likes.
It included a selfie that showed his camera in the reflection of his helmet.
His next tweet said: “Wrapping up today’s spacewalk activities. Huge thanks to the ground teams who make it all possible & keep us safe out there – you guys rock!”
The former army major and helicopter pilot has been aboard the International Space Station for about a month.(BBC News)
Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35332776
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