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 Tim Peake, who on the mission became the first astronaut from
Britain to walk in space, and U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra had finished
the primary goal of their outing when Kopra reported a water ball
had formed in his helmet.
The astronauts were not in any danger, but NASA curtailed the
spacewalk as a precaution, flight director Royce Renfrew said during
an interview on NASA TV.
Peake, 43, a former army major, blasted off to the station as part
of a six-month mission for the European Space Agency in December,
becoming the first Briton in space since Helen Sharman travelled on
a Soviet spacecraft for eight days in 1991, and the first to do so
under a British flag.
His mission has attracted widespread attention in Britain, with news
channels beaming live coverage of the spacewalk.
 "We're all watching, no pressure! Wishing you a happy stroll
outdoors in the universe," British musician Paul McCartney said on
Twitter.
About three hours into Friday’s spacewalk, Kopra, 52, reported that
his helmet pad was damp and a ball of water had collected in his
helmet, prompting NASA to end the mission.
The leak increased as Kopra and Peake returned to the airlock.
“It was quite noticeable,” Kopra later told ground controllers.
NASA tightened its flight rules after a spacesuit worn by Italian
astronaut Luca Parmitano leaked during a spacewalk in July 2013,
nearly causing him to drown.
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NASA eventually tracked down the source of the problem and outfitted
the helmets with absorption pads and breathing snorkels as
additional safety measures.
Chief astronaut Chris Cassidy, who was Parmitano’s partner during
the aborted 2013 spacewalk, said the cold temperature of the water
indicated a leak from somewhere in the spacesuit’s backpack, which
contains a cooling system.
In an interview on NASA TV, Cassidy called it “a significant
concern.”
Kopra and Peake had replaced a failed voltage regulator in the
station's power system shortly after leaving the station’s airlock
at around 8 a.m. EST/1300 GMT.
They were scheduled to spend more than six hours outside the
station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250
miles (400 km) above Earth, on other maintenance chores.
That work will be rescheduled, NASA said.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden in London; Editing by
Letitia Stein Stephen Addison, and Andrew Hay)
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