Spacesuit Glitch Ends Endeavour Spacewalk

Two astronauts end spacewalk early when a spacesuit malfunctions
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 20, 2011 10:53 AM CDT
Spacesuit Glitch Ends Space Shuttle Endeavour Spacewalk
In this image made from NASA Television, astronaut Andrew Feustel is shown during the first spacewalk Friday May 20, 2011.   ((AP Photo/NASA))

NASA managers cut short today's routine spacewalk by two Endeavour astronauts because one of their carbon dioxide sensors stopped working. The astronauts were nearly five hours into a planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk at the International Space Station when mission controllers noticed that Gregory Chamitoff's spacesuit sensor wasn't working.

Though carbon dioxide levels were probably not too high, the decision to halt the spacewalk was made because of the lack of information. Chamitoff and spacewalking partner Drew Feustel were about to start a 45-minute task to finish installing an antenna on the space station, but controllers figured that would take too much time. They started clean-up tasks instead. (Click to read about yesterday’s installation of a $2B magnet on the Space Station.)

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