Spacewalk aborted after water leaks into astronaut's helmet

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two astronauts aborted their spacewalk today and hurried back into the International Space Station after water leaked into one of the men's helmets in a scary repeat of a near-drowning 2½ years ago.

The trouble cropped up after the astronauts – including Britain's 1st spacewalker – successfully restored full power to the space station.

NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra took everyone by surprise when he reported a small water bubble and then a film of water inside his helmet. Mindful of another spacewalker's close call in 2013, Mission Control terminated the planned six-hour spacewalk at the four-hour mark. It turns out Kopra was wearing the same spacesuit involved in the earlier incident.

"So far, I'm OK," Kopra assured everyone. Later, he said the water bubble was 4 inches long and getting thicker.

"I'm doing good," he repeated on his way back inside.

Lead flight director Royce Renfrew, who called an early end to the spacewalk, stressed that the situation was not an emergency and insisted neither spacewalker was in danger. Indeed, Kopra took time to thank everyone for their help as the air lock was pressurized.

An hour later, Kopra was safely inside his orbiting home, along with Timothy Peake, who attracted his own headlines by becoming Britain's first spacewalker today.