Astronaut who nearly drowned when water entered his helmet during a spacewalk warned NASA three times

An astronaut has recalled the terrifying moment he almost drowned in space when water entered his helmet during a spacewalk.

The idea that there is water in space sounds a little strange, but when you look at NASA astronaut Luca Parmitano's spacewalk in July 2013, it makes a little more sense.

Parmitano and his colleague Chris Cassidy were carrying out the six-hour mission when they suddenly noticed something strange.

Check it out below:

Just an hour into the mission, which was supposed to include routine maintenance outside the International Space Station (ISS), Parmitano noticed water building up in his helmet.

At first he thought it was water leaking from his drinking bag, but the amount of water increased.

After warning NASA three times, the astronaut had difficulty seeing, hearing or communicating properly.

“I feel a lot of water on the back of my head, but I don’t think it’s coming from my pocket,” he remembers.

“The leak is not from the water bag and it is increasing.

“I think it might not be the water bag.”

Parmitano was in serious danger of drowning in space.

Mission control had no choice but to abort the spacewalk, and Parmitano managed to return to the ISS airlock.

Without his calm response during the emergency, a more serious outcome could have occurred.

After the incident, NASA discovered that there were technical problems in the spacesuit's design that had first been noticed during a spacewalk a week earlier.

In a blog post published on the ESA (European Space Agency) website, Parmitano commented on the moment, writing: “The unexpected feeling of water on the back of my neck surprises me – and I'm in a place where I can do it Would prefer not to be surprised.

“On the ground, Shane confirms they received my message and asks me to wait for instructions.

“Chris, who has just finished, is still nearby and walks towards me to see if he can see anything and identify the source of the water in my helmet.

He lived to tell the tale (SERGEI ILNITSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“But I think the liquid is too cold to produce sweat, and more importantly, I can feel it increasing.”

“My vision – already impaired by the water – disappears completely, rendering my eyes useless.

“But worse than that, the water is covering my nose – a truly terrible feeling that I make worse by my futile attempts to move the water by shaking my head.”

“Now the top part of the helmet is full of water and I can't even be sure if the next breath will fill my lungs with air and not liquid.”

“Now that we're building the pressure back up, I know I can open the helmet at any time if the water gets the better of me. I’ll probably pass out, but that would definitely be better than drowning in my helmet.”

He also warned: “We are explorers, not colonizers. The skills of our engineers and the technology around us make things seem simple even though they aren't, and perhaps we forget that sometimes. Better not forget.”