All 12 suits are contaminated, said Gregory Harbaugh, an astronaut in charge of NASA's spacewalk office. Each emergency oxygen pack is being cleaned, and special filters will be used to fill them to make sure no more dirt gets inside. NASA officials said it is a longtime problem that could have caused the outfits to burst into flames. The work is not expected to delay upcoming shuttle flights to the international space station.
Oil can ignite when combined with the pure oxygen that spacewalking astronauts breathe.
The contamination was discovered June 14. Drops of oil were found in a leaky oxygen regulator that was being taken apart. The same problem subsequently was discovered in all of the other regulators used in the emergency oxygen packs. All rights reserved.