A spacewalk on July 16 that was supposed to be about a six-and-a-half hour affair for Chris Cassidy and Luca Parmitano ended — just an hour-32 minutes in, after Luca’s helmet began to fill with water.
“Hey Luca, can you clarify? Is it increasing or not increasing?”
“It’s hard to tell, but if feels like a lot of water.”
Parmitano’s OK and a re-do of the spacewalk, to prep the ISS for a new Russian module, is being evaluated.

    Meanwhile back on the ground, Astronaut Tom Marshburn was answering questions from high school journalism students at Washington’s Newseum, about the EVA, as it was being shown live on the screen.
Tom Marshburn, NASA Astronaut: “For a spacewalk, it’s a combination of, maybe going out on stage for the first time as the lead in a play and Christmas morning.”
Marshburn also knows a thing or two about leaks in space — he and Cassidy fixed an ammonia leak outside the ISS during a spacewalk in May.

    Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator: “We want to not stand in the doorway, but open the doorway.”
Up on Capitol Hill, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was part of a panel discussion at Future Space 2013. The annual event covers important issues related to space and supports educational programs and networking opportunities for graduate students and young professionals.

    It’s apparently been there all along — but it took NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to find it. “It” is a newly discovered moon orbiting Neptune — the 14th moon we know about. Designated S/2004 N 1, it’s only about 12 miles across — so small — even NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft missed it when passing by Neptune in 1989. Better late than never.

    Hey, want to train like a real astronaut? That was the focus for NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins and some American athletes discussing what it takes to be fit for missions to space during a Google+ hang out. Hopkins has firsthand experience in this kind of training because he’s headed to the space station in September 2013 as a member of Expedition 37/38.

    The NASA Aeronautics Research Institute or NARI based at Ames Research Center held a virtual conference where researchers from around the agency presented science results from first round projects funded by the new organization.
Projects ranged from the use of new materials in aircraft, to improved noise-reducing aircraft designs, to electric powered green aviation solutions.
NARI plans to introduce new projects and activities in the future as it expands the model for a virtual aeronautics research institute.

    About seven NASA space technology payloads took a quick ride high above New Mexico — courtesy of an UP Aerospace sounding rocket. The SpaceLoft 7 sub-orbital flight, part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, gave the experiments about four minutes of weightlessness to be tested in a space-like environment. The goal is to help develop and advance future technologies in a new low-cost way.

    “Tranquility Base here; the Eagle has landed.”
Timeless words from Neil Armstrong — 44 years ago on July 20, 1969 — when he and Apollo 11 crewmate Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. Then later — Armstrong again, eloquent and humble in his words — became the first human to step foot on another heavenly body.
“That’s one small step for (a) man … one giant leap for mankind.”
Armstrong, Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins returned from the historic mission four days later.
And that’s This Week @NASA.