Yesterday, a NASA livestream falsely indicated that an ISS astronaut was experiencing decompression illness (DCS), a probably life-threatening situation, forward of a scheduled spacewalk.
NASA broadcast an emergency state of affairs on board the ISS on Wednesday at 6:32 p.m., with a voice from floor management asking to place an unnamed “commander” in his spacesuit for hypobaric remedy after being uncovered to elevated strain.
A whole bunch of individuals had been tuning in to the livestream, and the audio led them to consider that an astronaut was in important situation. “The hypobaric publicity is the large drawback and given his examination, I’m involved that there are some extreme DCS hits,” the voice within the audio mentioned. “I’d advocate attempting to get him in his swimsuit as quickly as doable and giving oxygen as greatest as in a position throughout that course of.”
About an hour later, the area company clarified that there was no emergency state of affairs on the ISS; as a substitute the aired audio was from a simulation channel on the bottom “indicating a crew member was experiencing results associated to decompression illness,” NASA wrote on X.
“This audio was inadvertently misrouted from an ongoing simulation the place crew members and floor groups practice for varied eventualities in area and isn’t associated to an actual emergency,” NASA added. “The Worldwide House Station crew members had been of their sleep interval on the time. All stay wholesome and protected.”
Decompression illness, often known as the bends, usually happens with change in strain throughout scuba diving and might generally have an effect on astronauts throughout spacewalks, forming bubbles within the bloodstream.
NASA had scheduled a spacewalk on Thursday for astronauts Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick to finish the removing of a defective electronics field. About an hour earlier than the crew was anticipated to exit the ISS airlock, NASA announced that the spacewalk had been postponed as a consequence of a spacesuit discomfort situation. It’s seemingly that the 2 incidents aren’t associated, however a somewhat unlucky coincidence.
For extra spaceflight in your life, comply with us on X and bookmark Gizmodo’s devoted Spaceflight page.
Trending Merchandise
