Astronauts Pull Off Risky Spacewalk

dylanduck writes "A pair of NASA astronauts overcame an issue with a loose jet pack to make crucial repairs to the International Space Station, according to a story on New Scientist Space. No jet pack means not getting home if you inadvertently push yourself away from the space station and into space. That's a long goodbye that doesn't bear thinking about."

Comments

I tip my hat to those brave men (or women)

[MBC1977]

My compliments... I cannot imagine how tough that must of been.

Regards,

MBC1977,
(US Marine, College Student, and Good Guy!)

Re:I tip my hat to those brave men (or women)

[darkmeridian]

Spacewalkers must have balls of steel. Prior to an early Gemini mission that involved the first U.S. spacewalk, the crewmember staying in the craft was instructed to cut the tether of the spacewalker in the event he could not return to the craft before they both ran out of oxygen. During the spacewalk, the suit ballooned up to a point where the spacewalker could not fit into the cramped confines of their primative spacecraft. Even though the spacewalker wasn't told of the standing orders to cut him loose in case of an emergency, he must have thought of it as time ticked down. Pretty much at the last second, he squeezed himself into the craft and secured the latch. Crew and vehicle returned safely to earth and later spacesuits were made more rigid.

There are apocryphal anecdotes that the crew of the Apollo missions were issued poison pins laced with cyanide just in case they could not get into a proper reentry slot and skipped off into space for eternity. I wonder if astronauts on spacewalks are told to depressurize if they find themselves irretrievably lost in space. (Is there even a way to intentionally depressurize their suits? I guess they can take it off, right, unless this requires some help.)

Moreover, at least something good is coming out of the International Space Station: modern experience in large-scale construction in outer space. Even though the ISS is a loss in terms of substantive science conducted, I would bet it has helped a lot in the applied sciences involving in building the structure. Not quite in terms of "make spacesuits more rigid" but probably in the minutiae of designing structures and methods of assembly that are easier using actual lessons learned.

Duc(k|t) tape

[fbartho]

I jumped in and actually read this article because I couldn't bear not knowing if they had actually used duck tape to strap the jetpack to the astronaut. The sad fact is that they did not and NASA insists that it was in no danger of actually coming free... just a couple latches on the sides had come loose and the pack was both tethered to the astronaut and relatched while the astronauts were still in space actively pursuing their mission.

Rope to the rescue!

[DeeZee]

How about using a rope tied to the suit? Seems like a low-tech solution, but might end up saving a life.

So not to be morbid or anything...

[Durrok]

... but you find yourself drifting in space with no hope of rescue. Do you:

A. Take off helmet?
B. Let air run out and aphyxiate?
C. Pray that the galactic president is stealing a spaceship with the Infinite Improbability Drive in it?

Re:I don't

[starbird]

Right. This is why each participant in the EVA is attached to 2 thethers at all times. Either 50' or 85', depending on where they are and where they're going.

The backpack is a tritary backup in case both tethers are released.

Re:Pretty hard push....

[Andy Gardner]

Well, unless you pop the suit open. That's quick.

You would be suprised

Misinformation

[magsilva]

The jet pack is great, but the astronauts don't put their lives entirely on them. Actually, what really make the EVA safe are two tethers, linking the astronauts to the ISS. The issue with the jet pack was that the danger of it becoming space debris, what could put the ISS in danger. Check it out at space.com or any really serious space news site.