Terrifying moment as the astronaut’s helmet fills with water, forcing him to make a terrible decision: drown or risk his head exploding

This is the horrific moment an astronaut’s helmet filled with water as he floated out of the International Space Station, nearly killing him.

Luca Parmitano thought about drowning or having his head explode by taking off his helmet.

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Parmitano was scheduled to conduct a spacewalk that was scheduled to last six hours when the disaster occurred.

He said that after about half an hour he felt some cold water on the back of his head.

The excursion was canceled and Parmitano returned to the space station along with another astronaut.

Parmitano’s helmet filled with water at this point, covering his eyes and nose and making it difficult to breathe.

He said he had to use his memory to find his way back to the airlock.

His calm handling of the potentially deadly situation may have saved his life, according to NASA officials.

The harrowing spacewalk, which took place in July 2013, was thoroughly investigated by NASA scientists, who were unsure how water in space could seep into his helmet.

A similar leak had apparently occurred a week earlier, when Parmitano and his colleague assumed it was a leaking drink bag in his suit.

Agency experts later determined that a clogged filter was the cause of the “close call,” which could have ended much worse than it did.

“About half an hour into the EVA [spacewalk]45 minutes maybe, Chris and I were ahead on our tasks, so we started our third task and I felt some water in the back of my head,” Parmitano said after the incident.

“I realized it was cold water, it wasn’t a normal feeling, so I told the floor.” [control].

“I went back to the airlock and the water continued to trickle.

“It completely covered my eyes and nose. It was really hard to see. I couldn’t hear anything. It was really hard to communicate.”

“I just went back to memory and basically went back to the airlock until I found her.”

Horrifying footage shows the other astronauts trying to figure out where the water is coming from and later helping him remove his helmet.

He said he felt the water level rising, causing a “really terrible feeling” before he was able to return to the station.

“Now the top 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,” he revealed in a frightening memory.

Once inside, he was able to take off the helmet and breathe again.

The brave astronaut later explained: “We are explorers, not colonizers.”

“The skills of our engineers and the technology around us make things seem simple even though they are not, and perhaps we sometimes forget that. Better not forget.”

While the near-death experience happened a decade ago, NASA was recently forced to put all spacewalks on hold as it solved an alarming problem with spacesuits aboard the International Space Station.

The agency, in a chilling reminder of Parmitano’s horror, said helmets worn by astronauts had filled with water multiple times in 2022.

It puts personnel in potentially life-threatening scenarios as they cling to the outside of the station 250 miles above Earth.

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