Dangerous situation in space - level 3

25-07-2013 14:00

What happened to an Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano could have been deadly. During a spacewalk on Tuesday to work on the International Space Station, a water-like liquid started building up in his helmet.

He and US astronaut Chris Cassidy were less than an hour into a planned six-hour outing when it happened. NASA had to call off the spacewalk.

Back inside the station astronaut Karen Nyberg and two cosmonauts took off Parmitano's helmet and had to sop up the excess water with towels.

The cause of the leak is still unclear, but Parmitano said the water tasted funny. He became the first Italian to walk in space last week and this was just his second outing.

Difficult words: call off (cancel), sop up (soak up).