Astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet began leaking on a spacewalk in July Cooling water covered his ears, nose and mouth, and he nearly drowned Only now is NASA admitting that it was the second leak on the same suit Mishap Board to speak at news conference at 2pm EST (7pm GMT)

By Sara Malm and Alex Greig

PUBLISHED: 04:14 EST, 26 February 2014 | UPDATED: 06:58 EST, 26 February 2014

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NASA is set to admit that an astronaut who nearly drowned in space had water leak into his space suit twice last year.

Luca Parmitanos pressurized helmet began to fill with water, covering his eyes, ears and nose, while he was carrying out a space walk at the International Space Station in July.

Blinded by the water, Italian Parmitano relied on his memory to get him back to the airlock cabin and had to be pulled back inside the space station by his fellow astronauts.

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NASA to admit that space suit leaked on TWO separate occasions