NASA will resume spacewalks to the ISS in 2025 after a spacesuit leak

NASA plans to resume spacewalks on the space station in 2025 after a leaky spacesuit halted those activities in June.

“We're planning our next set… early next year,” Bill Spetch, operations and integration manager of NASA's International Space Station (ISS) program, said of spacewalks during an Oct. 25 news conference following the completion of SpaceX's Crew-8 mission to the surrounding complex.

A seal and an umbilical cord connecting the spacesuit to the ISS were replaced and the affected suit was successfully repressurized, he added. “It's just a matter of when the timing is right,” Spetch said, noting that spacewalks are scheduled between the arrival and departure of spacecraft and between astronaut research activities.

NASA has indefinitely suspended all ISS spacewalks using its spacesuit after astronaut Tracy Dyson experienced a brief coolant leak before exiting the space station's hatch on June 24. (Russia, the space station's other majority partner, uses an independent spacesuit set called Orlan.)

Related: NASA postpones ISS spacewalks indefinitely to investigate spacesuit coolant leak

Dyson and fellow NASA astronaut Mike Barratt opened the door for what was expected to be a 6.5-hour spacewalk focused on maintenance. Minutes later, however, ice particles erupted from a spacesuit connection to the ISS.

The astronauts were never in danger, NASA said, and the spacewalks were not immediately necessary.

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NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson is pictured in her spacesuit before the start of a spacewalk on June 24, 2024, which ended after just 31 minutes due to a coolant leak from the suit's umbilical cord. (Image credit: NASA)

“We will look for the next opportunity where we want to do the spacewalk. It is neither time-sensitive nor urgent, and so we will find the best and most logical place to put it,” Dana Weigel, the station's program manager. NASA told reporters in a July 17 conference call.

Dyson's suit was one of NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU), first designed in the 1970s and used during the Space Shuttle program in the 1980s. The suit has a long history of flight, including helping to build the ISS and maintain the Hubble Space Telescope.

Parts of the EMU can be replaced if necessary, but there have been some coolant leaks in the suit design in recent years. For example, in March 2022, NASA suspended its spacewalks for seven months after water was discovered in a spacesuit helmet. In an even more notable incident in July 2013, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet filled with water during his spacewalk, requiring an investigation and corrective action.

NASA is asking private industry to contribute new spacesuits for several programs, including low-Earth orbit activities. The EMU is aimed at larger and male sizes, having been designed half a century ago when male astronauts (from the male-dominated military) made up the NASA corps.

Collins Aerospace was expected to deliver newer ISS suits but withdrew from its contract in June because the expected schedule “would not support the space station schedule and NASA's mission objectives.” At the time, NASA confirmed the end of the contract but did not announce any further steps.