One Tiny Oversight That Almost Doomed the Entire ISS Crew

Bright Side

Imagine floating hundreds of miles above Earth, fixing a spacecraft, when suddenly—you go blind. 🚀 That’s exactly what happened to Commander Chris Hadfield during a spacewalk in 2001, when a simple antifog solution turned into a terrifying moment of total darkness. But instead of panicking, he relied on his training, his crew, and a little patience until his vision cleared. And this is just one of the insane stories that happened aboard the International Space Station. From close calls to mind-blowing human resilience, these episodes remind us why life in space is never boring. Buckle up—because out there, even your tears don’t fall the way you expect. 🌌  Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00This is Chris Hadfield, a seasoned astronaut. In 2001, he was trying his first ever spacewalk.

00:08Chris was floating high above the Earth in the void. Nothing but the sound of his own breath

00:13and the silence of space. He saw the Earth beneath, and the sight was incredible.

00:19He couldn't feel it physically, but he was actually moving at a speed of almost 18,000

00:24miles per hour. Chris was watching the Earth spin below him, a sight that he later described

00:30as a self-propelled art gallery. Then, suddenly, everything changed. As Hadfield was tethered to

00:36the ISS, something stung his eye. In just a second, he was blinded in one eye. It turns out it was a

00:44drop of the anti-fog solution used on his helmet. A tiny mix of oil and soap, something that's

00:50usually harmless. But there, in zero gravity, it turned sinister. When the solution irritated

00:57his eye, it made him tear up. Normally, tears help us clean up the eyes if something bad gets

01:02into them. But in space, tears can't just roll down your face. They hover, stuck in place.

01:08This created a bigger floating drop of stinging liquid that impaired his vision. And in a cruel

01:14twist of fate, physics, it seeped across his nose, blinding his other eye. That was a

01:20nightmare. Chris was completely blind and floating alone in open space. He was only holding on to

01:27the International Space Station with one hand. But the astronaut didn't panic. He drew on years

01:33of meticulous, relentless training, the endless hours astronauts spend simulating worst-case scenarios.

01:40Astronauts are hardwired to react to such situations without fear. They get exposed to

01:45worst-case scenarios repeatedly and recalibrate the reaction, from paralyzing fear to calm acceptance.

01:52He even mentioned that it was like training himself to walk through a spiderweb without flinching.

01:58For Chris, that training allowed him to stay collected even while blind in the void. So he focused on the

02:04task at hand. Despite the temporary blindness, he continued the walk as planned. Eventually,

02:10his tears dissipated and he regained his vision. After that, he successfully completed the spacewalk.

02:17And it was a lesson to NASA guys on Earth, too. Now they switched to Johnson's no more tears to

02:23prevent this stuff in the future. But some adventures in open space end up much worse.

02:29Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore also were seasoned NASA astronauts. On June 5th, 2024, they launched into

02:37space. It was supposed to be a quick 8-day mission to the ISS, a test flight for Boeing's Starliner

02:43spacecraft. But things didn't go according to plan. Shortly after liftoff, the mission hit turbulence.

02:50Not physical turbulence, like in planes, but a fountain of technical issues. First, there were

02:56sudden helium leaks. They happened in the propulsion system. Helium is super important in spaceflight.

03:02It ensures a steady flow of propellants to the engine. The engineers are still not sure what

03:08exactly happened that caused those leaks. But it was bad. They can lead to propulsion inefficiencies

03:14or even failures. Then several thrusters failed to work properly. Five of 28 thrusters failed.

03:22The thrusters are crucial to make sure that the spacecraft doesn't go astray during flight.

03:27And it looks like this happened due to overheating. And it sounds horrifying. But after checking

03:32everything, the mission controllers on Earth said that the spacecraft is still good to go. The systems

03:38were sufficient to continue the mission safely. Just like Chris Hadfield, these astronauts didn't

03:44panic either. They managed the situation effectively. After some troubleshooting, they safely restored

03:50functionality to four thrusters and continued flying to the ISS. On June 6th, they successfully docked at

03:57the station. But it was just the beginning of a nightmare. Now, months later, Williams and Willmore are

04:05still stuck there. The planned eight-day stint accidentally turned into an eight-month stay.

04:11They still remain aboard the ISS, not because no one wants to get them out of there, but because it's

04:16way harder than we might think. The Starliner, designed to bring them home, turned out to be

04:22unsafe for the return trip. SpaceX and Boeing decided the spacecraft would return to Earth

04:27without any humans on it. They had to investigate the issues. This also means that they'll need to

04:33make and send something else to return the poor couple back home. And it's far from idle time. They

04:39still have to work, do experiments, maintain the station, and even go on spacewalks. You just can't catch a

04:46break in space. Now, an even more horrifying situation happened to South Korea's first astronaut,

04:53Yi Soyeon. On April 19th, 2008, Yi was aboard the Soyuz TMA capsule, a type of spacecraft that can

05:01carry astronauts to and from space. And she wasn't alone there. There was a flight engineer, Yuri

05:07Malenchenko, and American Commander Peggy Whitson with her. All three of them were returning from the ISS.

05:14But as the spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere, things went wrong. The capsule took a steeper than

05:21normal trajectory. This suddenly exposed the crew to some brutal gravitational forces. The gravity was

05:27twice what they would normally feel. All of them got stuck inside the cramped weightless cabin. Loose

05:33objects turned into projectiles. They struck Yi, pressing her body against her seat. It was excruciating.

05:39And the engineer mentioned that it made her scream, a rare moment of an astronaut actually losing their

05:45cool. For a brief moment, she thought this might be how her life would end. But suddenly,

05:50the capsule thudded to Earth. Not at the plane landing site, but 300 miles off course in the remote

05:58Kazakh steps. The charred spacecraft sat smoldering in the vast, empty plains. Meanwhile, a group of nomads

06:06was passing by. When they stumbled across a fiery object falling from the sky, they were terrified.

06:12And when it fell on the ground, an astronaut crawled out of it, Yuri Malenchenko. He emerged first from

06:19the capsule. The nomads hesitated at first. They even cautiously poked the confused astronauts to make

06:25sure they were alive. As they were coming back to their senses, an entire crowd of about 50 people

06:31gathered around them. The audience was watching as the crew recovered from their fiery re-entry.

06:37Yi later joked that it felt like being a monkey in a cage. Despite the chaos, the nomads didn't

06:43hesitate to help. They dragged the crew into the shade and even went back into the tight confines of

06:49the capsule to get a satellite phone for them. But just as the astronauts were setting up the phone to

06:55call for help, a black dot appeared in the sky. The rescue aircraft. Relief washed over Yi and the

07:02others. The ordeal finally neared its end. She had to get back to the hospital as soon as possible to

07:08get checkups and treatments for her back. Yi became a national hero of South Korea. The landing might have

07:15been terrifying, but it also proved everyone's resilience. You know, after all these stories,

07:25it's not a surprise that all astronauts need to wear diapers. And that's not a joke. When Alan

07:30Shepard prepared to be the first American astronaut in 1961, he encountered a very human problem that

07:37NASA somehow overlooked. As he strapped into the tiny Freedom 7 capsule, hours of delays turned into a

07:45crisis. Shepard needed to use the bathroom. Don't ask how they could have forgotten about this stuff,

07:51but they did. When Shepard radioed his situation to mission control, NASA scientists bong. If he did

07:58it right in his suit, this could short-circuit his body monitoring cables. But after some debates,

08:04they realized it was their only option. Yep, the first American in space ended up with a wetsuit.

08:11NASA learned a valuable lesson that day. Over the decades, they created maximum absorbency garments,

08:18or basically, space diapers. They're worn under a spacesuit during critical phases,

08:23like launch, re-entry, and spacewalks. So, although it was probably cringey for him back then,

08:29that was just a reminder that even the most advanced missions must account for the most basic human needs.

08:36science. That's it for today. So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a

08:44like and share it with your friends. Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the

08:49bright side.

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