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Astronaut to Attempt Spacewalk Record

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the moonwalk-record-still-strong dept.

MattSparkes writes "Two residents of the International Space Station will take a spacewalk tomorrow to try to jam a stuck antenna on a docked cargo ship back into place. The spacewalk will set a US record of over 65 hours spacewalk experience. During the spacewalk, the astronauts will "use a hammer and a chisel to try to pound the antenna into place". Precision engineering at its very best I'm sure you'll agree."

19 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. A Hammer? by Architect_sasyr · · Score: 3, Funny

    They're going to use a Hammer and a Chisel... I thought these pieces of equipment were highly delicate...

    Apparantly they're more like IBM computers...

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    1. Re:A Hammer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      well, at least it is not a hammer and a sickle, now that the MIR has gone the way of the dodo...

      besides, it would be unamerican.

    2. Re:A Hammer? by jellomizer · · Score: 1, Funny

      Well they cant be that delicate being in space where objects could hit them at hundreds of miles per hour. A persision hammer strike is probably nothing to it. (perhaps just enough to put the chizle in place.)

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  2. Houston... by Kalendraf · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...we need a bigger hammer!

    1. Re:Houston... by MrFlibbs · · Score: 2, Funny

      This just reinforces an old mechanical engineering maxim:

            "If you have a large enough hammer, anything can be made to fit."

  3. Bah! by Masa · · Score: 5, Funny

    64 hours should be enough for anyone.

  4. It's the Chisel part... by kaysan · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can understand the practical applications of, and use for, packing a hammer aboard a space cargo flight, but i can't for the life of me imagine what they would do with a chisel?.. maybe they hid it inside of a cake?

  5. Please... by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not a hammer.
    It's a highly specialized kinetic-energy inertial impartion implement.

    After all, it cost far more than a mere hammer...

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
    1. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You don't actually think they spend $20000 on a hammer, $30000 on a toilet seat do you?

  6. Just A Hammer and Chisel? by Zeek40 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did they forget about the BB gun, pepper spray, 6" knife and rubber tubing? Oh... Wrong astronaut...

  7. What was that saying? by Centurix · · Score: 5, Funny

    When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

    Imagine spending 65 hours playing whack-a-mole.

    --
    Task Mangler
    1. Re:What was that saying? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 3, Funny

      The hammer in my house is helpfully labelled "Emergency Repair Procedure #1" in sharpie on the handle.

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    2. Re:What was that saying? by Centurix · · Score: 2, Funny

      haha, if I hadn't posted in here already this would've got a +1 funny. I get this picture of an eager astronaut waiting for the mole to appear, hitting it and flying away into orbit shouting "damn you Newton!"

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      Task Mangler
  8. Replace Alpha Echo 35 unit prior to failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stuck Antenna? It's not the AE-35 unit that's failed, by any chance?

  9. Spacewalk record? I'm unimpressed. by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now if he was breaking the moonwalking record, that'd be more newsworthy.

  10. Stop. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hammer Time.

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  11. Re:Hustin, we have a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    How do they dispose of the diapers afterwards? Do they send them out the airlock?

    They send them to Uranus.

    I'm so very sorry.

  12. Over kill by GigG · · Score: 5, Funny

    The chisel is over kill. You only need to tools in aerospace. A hammer and a roll of duct tape. If it moves and it isn't supposed to use the duct tape, if it doesn't move and is supposed to use the hammer.

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  13. Re:A US record? Yawn by GigG · · Score: 3, Funny

    Of course the Russians had more space walk experience. They had to keep in shape because there was always a pretty good chance they were going to have to walk home from the Mir.

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