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Astronauts Lost Tools in Space, Forced to Improvise
Ant writes "Neatorama and Popular Science share a CNN story about Russian astronauts repairing the International Space Station (ISS) with improvised tools because they lost the real ones.
How? 'It's a lot like your house,' said Paul Boehm, lead spacewalk officer. 'You set your car keys down somewhere and hopefully you find them again later when you try to remember it.' Uh, yeah, but we're idiots -- you're astronauts. Nonetheless, nice to see the Do It Yourself (DIY) spirit at work in space."
I lose my tools all the time -- "where did that damn socket set go?" I've been forced to use all sorts of things - pliers, my wife's spatula set (don't tell her), and my son's toy dinosaur. Betcha none of those astronauts would have thought of THAT.
Clearly I am much more intelluhgent then those NASA dudes. And don't even get me started on that Bo Villa guy. If I had 527 different types of wood vices like him, I could HAND CARVE my own six bedroom Colonial..
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Was the mudguard repair (I know, no mud on the moon but I refuse to say "fender" like an American) on apollo 17. Maps and sticky tape really came in handy that time.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I hope it isn't this ultimate man-tool they're now missing. Because without it, how would they cut off all those useless four inch antennas?
Here in Konqueror 3.3.0-8 it looks much the same as it does in Firefox.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
first of all, it's not like you can take something to work, leave it in the other car, etc. If it's on the station, it's on the station still. If you didn't find it in 5 minutes, then your method for looking/putting away is failing. There should be a process, etc. etc. AFter all, you can't even "set something down" in space. "Setting down" a wrench would just make it float away, and then it would smack you in the head later on.
stuff |
I think the way to go is to have different multitools for particular jobs.
I love working on my bike, but man o man what I wouldn't give for a shot to work on the ISS. Of course getting the beer and bong onto the station could be difficult.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Here's what it looks like in Konq 3.5.3
j pg
Look in the upper left corner, all the text from the left sid menus jumped to the top and is all overlayed on top of each other in an unreadable jumble. Not to mention, unusable..
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7/omfgx4818yv.
It's actually been in the works for some time now, you know...
Sorry you missed it !
I think it looks great ; do upgrade your browser, you're missing out :)
You set your car keys down somewhere and hopefully you find them again later when you try to remember it.
That's the problem with earthlings going to space -- we can't deal with space-based habits that contradict our own. On Earth we can hope to find our keys where we set them down. In space they float away.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
It's an interesting study on things we take for granted when people are deprived of things like the sense of gravity and of place. Couple in the fact that humans are really crappy multi-taskers, and none of this surprises me. An astronaut is deprived of a great many senses, most of which need to be compensated for with conscious effort, which leaves less brain for other stuff.
Simple tasks aren't so simple anymore when your brain is trying to compensate for input that is no longer really there. And then they have to fight off vertigo, which is hard even for people on Earth.
All this I took for granted before a little bit of brain damage, which recoverying from is a trivial little bit of recovery over a long, long time. Sadly, I remember how easy thing were before my neurons got scrambled, everything now takes a lot of conscious effort, mostly due to the fact that I don't perceive my senses as I should, and sometimes I have to really think about things, in single file to make it through the day. Forget about making internet postings and listening to music at the same time. I cannot fathom more than one task at a time, really, when I used to be able to do many. It's constant vertigo, every second of every day, and after some months, it becomes a heavy burden.
The point being is that their brains are more than likely scrambling to make sense out of the senseless, and leaving a screwdriver out in the void is probably pretty small taters, considering everything else.
I'musing Konquerer 3.5.3 in KDE 3.5.3 and do not suffer (?) from the same problem you are. The text is laid out perfectly, as it is in Firefox and IE.
bork bork bork!
Ooor not. After I pulled the page up, I turned around to type my previous message, looked back to close it, and the text was screwed. I have no idea what is going on. It was fine while it said "Loading 62 of 63 images". When that last image loaded, the text screwed up.
:)
Oh well..
bork bork bork!
MacGyver would be proud.
For a sec, I thought they were insulting the astronauts, calling them a bunch of tools who couldn't find their way back to Earth.
Go back and watch any of the early episodes of This Old House -- it's clearly apparent that Bob Villa isn't paying attention to the 'experts' that are giving him instructions. The person doing all of the work is Norm Abrahms (who has his own show, The New Yankee Workshop).
And as for tools -- if I had an outbuilding larger than my current house, with a 1/4 mil in power tools (c'mon -- a laser guided chop saw? And he's had it for years -- they only came down to the general consumer market in the last couple of years), I'm guessing I'd do a little bit better on the woodworking projects I do.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Freaking astronauts, driving their moon buggies around at all hours of the night, blasting the "2001" theme... Don't turn your back on 'em, they'll stick a flag in ya!
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Did they improvise with an inanimate carbon rod?
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
Even weirder, if you scroll the page down and up it magically fixes itself. Reminds me of IE...
Even says so at the bottom of the CNN replication of the story. Damnit.
I have never once lost my keys or one of my tools.
You know why? I always put them in the same place or places. ie. I pick up my stuff and clean up when I'm done. It's a process. I can't believe anyone in such a danagerous place would be so careless.
I know my keys are always in the last pair of pants I wore. I never take my keys our of my pocket unless I'm using them. My tools are always in the appropriate toolbox unless I'm using them.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Does the Craftsman tools lifetime warrantee cover tools taken into Outer Space? ;-)
Verveces tui similes pro ientaculo mihi appositi sunt
As a tax payer, I am pissed that they are "misplacing" tools that cost way more than tools I have in my garage. Just think about how much it cost to supply them with those tools, testing, purchasing then launching them into orbit. NASA doesn't just go to Sears to get a wrench then load it onto a lauch vehicle and away it goes. The damn thing is spec'd out, high priced contractors offer up prototypes, testing, redesigned, retested, etc. costing thousands even millions of dollars for EACH tool. The press then makes light of it like it was a show on DIY network. I don't find it even remotely fascinating or funny.
If Kerry was the answer, it must have been a stupid question.
The UN - The largest "political" cause of death.
That's why I had a slightly melted rench & racket set stuck in my windshield this morning!
In Soviet Russia, tools lose you!
Nonetheless, nice to see the Do It Yourself (DIY) spirit at work in space."
DIY has been part of the space program since Chuck Yeager used a broom handle to close the door on the X-1 after breaking his arm in a horse riding accident. I think the best example is when the Apollo 13 astronauts rigged an air scrubber and used their lunar module as a propulsion system to get home after the service module blew up.
Nice to see the tradition being carried on.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
When stuff breaks unexpectantly (like Apollo 13) and you have to jerry-rig something in space, it's cool to DIY. But to loose a tool because it's "just like loosing your car keys", then it's not so smart. Those tools aren't cheap, and the gear up there that is at risk from a missing tool is far far far from cheap.
So... maybe this would be a really good application for RFIDs? Stick a tag on all the tools and at least you'll have an easy way to find anything that get's lost.
One thing I miss about the old This Old House is the DIY aspect. The homeowners were expected to do some of the work, and most of the clean-up. So, what used to be Bob saying "Now Norm will show us how to raise this wall and put in new blocks" is now Steve saying "Now Tommy's crew will show us how they use several rams to lift this wing while injecting new poly-cement to level the structure."
I notice the W3C validator is still blocked...
Have they just not got around to changing it, or are they still ashamed of their code?
I'm willing to bet that it is, in fact, a konqueror bug -- because there used to be one just like it with buttons, a long time ago. Konqueror would render the buttons for forms somewhere up near the top of the page instead of anywhere near where it was placed in the form, but if you scrolled the button offscreen, it would magically pop to where it belonged. However, I've got to say that slashdot must be doing something weird to trigger this effect, because it's pretty hard to cause any sort of serious breakage in Konqueror anymore.
Maybe they should have bought their tools from Wal-Mart?
(but seriously, please don't buy from Wal-Mart).
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Sung to the tune of "The New Yankee Workshop":
In "The New Yankee Workshop" with
Norm Abram, he can show you how
To make all sorts of neat things with
Tools that cost about ten thou.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
I saw a program once where some NASA guy showed off some of the tools carried up on the Space Shuttle during the Hubble repair mission.
Some of them were purchased "off the shelf" and modified for use in space.
For example, their adjustable wrench (Br. spanner) was an ordinary adjustable wrench whose handle was encased with a larger handle so that it could be held with bulky space suit gloves.
(I have no idea how they actually adjusted the wrench with those same bulky gloves.)
Other items, such as socket wrench sockets, were ordinary store-bought sockets with holes drilled in them for tether pins, so they wouldn't float away into space.
All of the above was for the Space Shuttle several years ago, but I assume that similar tools are used on the International Space Station.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
The ISS probably uses light weight tools. Going up for one repair mission is whole lot different than the ISS. The ISS in in constant orbit, the less the mass, the better for fuel consumption for orbit corrections. Also cargo constraints are a HUGE factor. Consider this, the Astronauts are excited to get a few grams of extra cargo for each resupply mission. With each Shuttle launch costing around 1 billion, a little less for other vehciles, nonetheless, cargo is expensive. So these assholes lose tools, if they need to be replaced it's considerably over $1000.00 per pound, that's one hell of a FedEx bill! Surgeons and O.R. Nurses count everything, down to the last suture needle, as it may cost the a few million in liability. Why the hell can't these over-educated, over-paid grease monkeys do the same? NASA is nothing but a bottomless money pit, a dollar grinding machine. Making light of losing tools isn't funny or fascinating, this costs money, lots of money. If I had "lost" a vehicle while I was in the military, do you think they would make light of it, costs are about the same, why not? Somebody should be held accountable for this misuse of taxpayer money!
If Kerry was the answer, it must have been a stupid question.
The UN - The largest "political" cause of death.
So you'd rather use a totally inappropriate term than an appropriate one because... wait, why exactly? Clearly, that convict heritage expresses itself more strongly in some Aussies than others.
The same principle applies to auto mechanics. I am one of the few and proud that still seems to take pride in being able to work on their own ride, partly for financial reasons, partly for the challenge of it, and partly to make sure it is done right. It seems like every project lately means a trip to buy at least one special tool or another. An angle grinder for my rusty bumper, a MAPP torch to build a luggage rack for my Magna, a heavy-duty floor jack to lift the frame of my old '93 F-150 to replace the rusty spring brackets, and a special socket I needed to replace the rotors on my "new" '94 4WD F-150, to name a few.
In every case the cost of the tools was still a fraction of the cost of labor and parts markup I would have paid to a mechanic, and the new tools encourage me to tackle more challenging repairs. Often these tools have uses I couldn't have dreamed of when I brought them.