NASA 'go' for Sunday spacewalk outside ISS

NASA today confirmed plans for astronauts to proceed Sunday morning with a third spacewalk in just over a week outside the International Space Station.

Engineers determined there was no danger posed by the small amount of water astronaut Terry Virts reported floating in his helmet at the conclusion of the second spacewalk in the series on Wednesday.

The presence of water in a spacewalker's helmet became a major concern in 2013 when a significant leak threatened to drown Italian spacewalker Luca Parmitano.

NASA believes the estimated 15 milliliters of water Virts reported is the product of a known issue with his spacesuit that is unrelated to the cause of the leak Parmitano survived.

Virts and fellow NASA astronaut Barry "Butch Wilmore" on Sunday plan to continue rigging hundreds of feet of cables and install communications antennas, steps toward the outpost welcoming commercial crew capsules in the next few years.

The planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk is expected to start at 7:10 a.m. EST Sunday. Follow live NASA TV coverage starting at 6 a.m.

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