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Astronauts Lost Tools in Space, Forced to Improvise

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the lost-in-time-lost-in-space...and-meaning dept.

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."

4 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Chewing gum wrapper, Swiss Army Knife, Duck Tape by strikeleader · · Score: 4, Funny

    MacGyver would be proud.

  2. Article headline is ambiguous... by GreenPenInc · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  3. Re:uh, It's nothing like your house by iktos · · Score: 5, Interesting
    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.

    They had a process on Skylab. In the storage compartment there were 2000 lockers, on the ground there was a team of six working in shifts with a pair of redundant computers keeping track of what was put in which locker.
    Didn't work either. And since (almost) everything was supposed to be secured inside something, it couldn't be found just by walking around and looking for it.
  4. Oh, that explains it... by corbettl · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's why I had a slightly melted rench & racket set stuck in my windshield this morning!