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First All-Female Spacewalk Canceled Because NASA Doesn't Have Two Suits That Fit (npr.org)
The first all-female spacewalk scheduled for Friday has been cancelled by NASA (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) because they don't have two spacesuits that fit the female astronauts. According to The New York Times, Anne C. McClain and Christina H. Koch both need to wear a medium-size torso component, but only one is readily available at the International Space Station. From the report: The mission itself is unchanged. On Friday, two astronauts will venture outside of the space station on a six-hour mission to install massive lithium-ion batteries that will help to power the research laboratory. Ms. Koch is still scheduled to participate, along with her fellow astronaut Nick Hague; Ms. McClain did her first spacewalk last week. But the first women-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day. "After consulting with McClain and Hague following the first spacewalk, mission managers decided to adjust the assignments, due in part to spacesuit availability on the station," NASA said in a statement.
Stephanie Schierholz, a spokeswoman for NASA, said in an interview on Monday that there were already two medium-size hard upper torsos -- "essentially the shirt of the spacesuit," according to NASA -- at the space station. But there were a couple of issues. One was that Ms. McClain had thought she would be able to work in a large-size torso, but after her spacewalk last Friday, she wore a medium-size torso and learned that it fit her better. Ms. Koch also uses the same size. And of the two medium-size torsos available, one has yet to be properly configured for a spacewalk. It would take hours of crew labor -- not to mention some additional risk -- to fix that in time for Friday. Instead of doing that, NASA decided to simply switch out the astronauts. In the end, both women will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
Stephanie Schierholz, a spokeswoman for NASA, said in an interview on Monday that there were already two medium-size hard upper torsos -- "essentially the shirt of the spacesuit," according to NASA -- at the space station. But there were a couple of issues. One was that Ms. McClain had thought she would be able to work in a large-size torso, but after her spacewalk last Friday, she wore a medium-size torso and learned that it fit her better. Ms. Koch also uses the same size. And of the two medium-size torsos available, one has yet to be properly configured for a spacewalk. It would take hours of crew labor -- not to mention some additional risk -- to fix that in time for Friday. Instead of doing that, NASA decided to simply switch out the astronauts. In the end, both women will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
Quick! Spend $100Million to send up a second medium torso component so that the United States can claim victory in the area of extra-planetary social justice!!!
BOOM! Problem solved!
And.. diapers.
Real reason: They refused to go out in public wearing the same outfit!
It's not just that. Wear something incredibly revealing
so I just go with "Stuff Happens". Just send one up on the next supply ship.
;)
You know until they get things to a point where there is a bit of flexibility in operations. Real space work will be left to the private market and the future.
Just my 2 cents
They can't be seen wearing the same outfit as someone else.
Have gnu, will travel.
because they don't have two spacesuits that fit the female astronauts
These do have two spacesuits that fit the female astronauts, just not ones that are tooled for this particular mission.
"Two mediums existed on the ISS, but only one was prepped for a spacewalk. Instead of devoting extensive crew time to make the extra medium-sized suit space-worthy by Friday, NASA decided to restaff"
I think it's equally important to recognize that both NASA and the astronauts are putting the mission first.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
hope she floats (tits up).
not implying NASA fakes all their spacewalks in underwater training sessions like what Flat Earthers proved with Russia & China.
I want credit bigly for saving American tax dollars on this wasteful boondoggle!
I personally made sure there was only one suit so NASA couldnt use a zillion dollar space flight to virtue signal!
I am Donald J. Trump and I support this message! (And I am FULLY EXONERATED!!!)
OMB
If only the all-female Ghostbusters could have been avoided so easily.
As a cis-male, I am relieved that you're someone else's problem now.
Hopefully in an emergency, any old suit torso would be ok.
Wasn't there someBNASA project to re-design the suits?
I seem to recall SpaceX was working on it too...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
they don't use the suits inside the ISS, they don't use those suits for the flight to/from the station (each capsule has it's own suit design, Russia, Spacex, NASA, and Blue Origin have different suit designs)
so what do they use the suits for besides spacewalks? What is the other torso configured for?
I thought the left wing stuff was baloney but here you cock suckers are being so terrified of women doing anything that you have to insult them. /. is full of a bunch of fucking pansy asses. What a bunch of pussy ass bitches you all are.
List of spacewalkers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Reads down to 1984. Soviet Union and the USA have done that.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
"Does this spacesuit make me look fat?"
LOL depressurization mean dead astronauts and no need for suits at that point
This site is getting tiresome really quick. One leftist media story after another about some non SJW issue. Can we keep this site on topic about tech issues?
If there was an emergency evacuation requiring suit usage, they would be pretty dead anyway as the suits are not quick to put on or use. In all emergency circumstances, the fall backs are "go to the Soyuz capsules and prepare for evacuation" and not "go put on bulky suits intended for external use only".
I mentally replaced all references to the feminine with the masculine within the summary while reading it. Amazingly, I found the references to gender suddenly both extremely offensive and still unnecessary.
The story is sexist bullshit masquerading as social justice pandering.
"His name was James Damore."
I think to have an informed discussion on the matter, we need to know the measurements, including cup sizes... firmness... nipple diameters.
Don't let your tits get in the way
NASA has, due to budget cuts, been a bad joke for many years now. They are likely a front to hide the actual black budget space program
This site is getting tiresome really quick. One leftist media story after another about some non SJW issue. Can we keep this site on topic about tech issues?
NASA's next stunt gonna be two colored female handicapped astronaut doing The First Handicapped Minority non-male Spacewalk and you can betcha ass that /. will give it the full coverage !!
There are redundant suits of each size but the secondary medium suit would need to be configured and loaded for the specific spacewalk. They are around 40 years old and you need to be sure everything works correctly before putting it on and going into vacuum - that takes time.
These are EVA suits and are not the same as flight suits and likely would not be used in an emergency since they are difficult to put on and require assistance to do so.
Enigma
Well, to be fair, that's every other spacewalk. They just don't bother highlighting the fact that it's all-male.
In an emergency she'd simply wear the mis-sized suit. Much ado about nothing. +2 lol.
As in, she'd wear the one that's too awkward to use for a long demanding EVA with no margin for error, which is fine since there IS one in her size, just not two at the same time, so they'll simply rotate. They're engineers who see a solved math problem here, not a need for ado.
Goat, empty, lettuce, goat, wolf, empty, goat. No one spewing headlines about goats being persecuted by wolves.
It seems to me that lack of preparation is an issue here.
... well... to fit the suits appropriately.
Even the blurb explains that the issue was that there was a planned spacewalk and although there are 6 astronauts on board the ISS at this time and there has been some time to make the decision to prepare the space suits, no one saw fit to
Who gives a shit about the gender of the astronauts beyond ensuring there is appropriate necessities in the ISS to facilitate their gender specific needs? This could have easily been a similar problem if one of the astronauts was a smaller male. They are basically two nerds, one a mechanical and aerospace engineer and the other, a physicist and electrical engineer.
This past year has been one whole year of :
- First female to win Abel award... yeh... she won it because she's a she... not because she is one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the last 70 years
- All female spacewalk cancelled... yeh, they're astronauts because they're girls, not because they both achieved top marks from top schools in areas of science and engineering.
- all female..
- first woman...
I mean seriously... what's the f-ing point here? Exceptional people are exceptional people... and moron journalists are moron journalists... done.
Agreed not knowing beforehand is ridiculous. But not knowing the right size is even crazier.
They could highlight the 100th all-male spacewalk.
Yeah, we got it already. Weâ(TM)re afraid of women. Weâ(TM)re pussy ass bitches. We heard you the first 3 times, but the fact that nobody cares seems to have you upset somI didnâ(TM)t want you to feel too badly. Thanks for the feedback.
The historic space walks (EVA) got done in 1984.
Both by the Soviet Union and the USA.
Why is this a story?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
With their lack of budget and who creates some of there products dictated by which State voted "correctly", fitting is very difficult for NASA.
They have their template suites on Earth that they use for fitting. The problem is the materials act differently that high up. The other problem is each suite is slightly different.
These suites where built between 1982 and 1986. Originally they were pretty much the same, but all hand made. Now they sometimes are repair on Earth, but other times are repaired in space with the materials available. The templates, and even the various suites just don't match anymore. Some suites they've had to bring back because they are disintegrating.
There has been a program in place to create new suites, but it has been taking a long time, particularly due to who they can work with changing every 2 years with elections, partially due to government budgets dictating what money will be spent on.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
Long ago, there was a proposal for "skinsuits", very tightly fitted suits much like wetsuits that were completely form fitting and much lighter. The suits were also not airtight. Air (or oxygen) was fed in through the helmet, which was quite rigid, and leaked into the suit and leaked out for cooling. They relied on the strength of the fabric, and of the skin of the astronaut, to provide the mechanical support to keep the astronaut intact in vacuum. The design was much lighter than NASA and Soviet designs, and much less expensive. The operational difference was like that between a scuba diver and a the old dry suits with brass helmets and hoses. The design was lighter, took less space, and was much easier to maintain.
I do not know what has held up development for this kind of suit. The difference in weight of the suit, alone, should have saved enough fuel costs at launch time to justify research. I don't understand why the astronauts themselves have not demanded it, to improve mobility.
Really? Who gives a fuck?
Space suit design and the difficulty of fitting them is a fundamental tech issue. Two women doing a space walk together is history. On reflection, wouldn't you agree that it is news for nerds?
I find it very interesting that all these feminists both despise men talking about sex and men who don't have sex.
We all know that's what they mean by "fit."
I just did that. Replaced Ms with Mr. Medium with ex-large. Her with his.
I guess I'm missing your point, as it read a little silly (two men don't simultaneously spacewalk) but wasn't sexist.
Women need to be shown other women doing things. /sarcasm
Because they have no initiative, no imagination, complete herd mentality.
The only way to kickstart women doing anything is being told to by a man.
It's like the special Olympics but with their genitals as the handicap.
Gotta love all that progressive crypto-chauvinism.
Because "the first all female space walk" is stupid. If we're equal, then who cares?
But I'm sure this will be spun as being horribly unfair, how dare we not have enough woman-sized suits around, etc.
They are around 40 years old
The design is 40 years old (well, 38), but the suits in use now were not produced 40 years ago. New ones were produced for the ISS, so that puts the maximum age closer to 20 years. I suspect the suits are regularly swapped as components reach end-of-life.
Sure Donald, now take your medicine and play some golf. And yes, the joke was hilarious, we're just very good at controlling ourselves.
If feminists actually wanted progress they would want nothing said at all about this. True equality means the best person does the job without consideration of gender, ethnicity or any other personal factor. Pointing out that a task was completed only by women makes it seems as though there was some question whether it could be completed without a man. Long gone are the days when the prevailing thought is that women are incapable of technical or mechanical tasks. The battery will not be installed any differently because of the gender of the people are doing it. Concrete progress in social justice will be measured by the day when an article can say "Astronauts Shannon Miller and Marion Cruz completed a spacewalk" and we don't even know the genders of the people involved.
She couldn't go out because she didn't have a thing to wear.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Well, apparently NASA desperately needs astronauts with biger bra size
No one cares. I thought the point of treating people equally was that you didn't do stuff like "all female team does something that's been done before"
Why not just treat women like normal people, instead of special children that need to be placed on a pedestal?
You realize this is a worse form of objectification right?
What kind of twisted, self-flagellating logic is required to see this story as sexist?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
But the first women-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both women will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
You don't see that as sexist? Let's use another demographic to make it clearer for you:
But the first middle-aged white men-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both middle-aged white men will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
Neither seems sexist, they are just noting the first time a particular demographic is doing something that other demographics have been doing for decades.
You are being over-sensitive.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Only 12 year-old SJWs or their emotional equivalent think the notion is anything but absurd. Nobody else cares about this. People are people. You are a joke, millennials, and you just keep getting funnier. Thank you for supplanting the now mediocre field of comedy with your antics, we need our clowns.
Not sexist. Stupid and virtue signaling, yes. Sexist, no.
Plus the "reverse the genders" thing only really works when people are complaining about too many of one thing: "there are too many white males in computer science" turns into "there are too many black females in computer science".
I suspect the suits are regularly swapped as components reach end-of-life.
You'd be wrong. Makeshift repairs are done on the suits.
Some rich folks only had 8 mansions, so we had to give them a tax cut. So, we had to break out the duct tape and bailing wire for the space suits.
People change size after spending time in zero-G environments.
What if there was an event on the station and some of the suits were damaged?
The crew would flee to the docked Soyuz capsule and abandon the station.
What if there was an emergency evacuation where the station was depressurized
The suits take about 30 minutes to put on, and require the help of another astronaut. So, they're not what would be used in a depressurization scenario. Instead, the crew would flee to the docked Soyuz capsule and abandon the station.
or have an environmental control failure resulting in the need for all astronauts to be in suits?
Then the crew would flee to the docked Soyuz capsule and abandon the station.
(Have you noticed a trend yet?)
The space program is supposed to be all about safety and redundancy and yet the bread and butter of the astronaut's garb isn't even available in DUPLICATE onboard?
Have you enjoyed your tax cuts? 'Cause not building new space suits since the 1980s is one of the effects of those tax cuts.
It's sexist *because* they are noting it for no reason other than the sex of the astronauts.
For something to be sexist it has to have some negative repercussion for one gender. Since the notability here comes from the fact that it is something which men have been doing for decades but women have still not had the opportunity to do, it doesn't create disadvantage or have any negative effects, and thus is not sexist.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Space is unforgiving. Gender is absolutely irrelevant compared to safety and skill. I'm sure both women are skilled at their jobs, but safety dictated they both can't walk at the same time (for now). If that's is upsetting, get over it.
PR stunts have zero value compared to this.
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
There already is a negative repercussion. They're focusing on gender as if that's some kind of accomplishment instead of the skill of the crew members. Gender is irrelevant unless you have the unspoken assumption that they aren't equal.
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
Quit being obtuse, moron.
If it was not two women this story would not have appeared on Slashdot or in most of the other places it was mentioned. Space walks happen all the time and are not reported this widely. Thus, nothing has been lost.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Well, the underlying even is that NASA changed what astronaut they assigned to a mission because they didn't have the equipment they needed for the original assignment on hand. The mission as not canceled, nobody was put in danger. It's a complete non story.
The only reason this is "news" is because of the sex of the astronauts involved.
You don't see that as sexist? Let's use another demographic to make it clearer for you:
For clarity purposes, let's do it with lots of categories:
But the first black-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both black people will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
or
But the first Jewish-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both Jewish people will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
or
But the first Disabled-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both disabled people will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
or
But the first dog-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both dog people will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
You should not be surprised that AmiMoJo sees it as not sexist. Women have been held back forever! This is their time to shine! ... which is sexist, just "reverse" sexist. Which is still sexist. But of course he can't see it. He is enabling women! How could that be sexist? But it is.
People. lol. So funny. What is even more amazing is that he has a brain that works. He just has too many "rigidities" that prevent him from seeing certain things. Attack all axioms. Keep that which survives. Even if it survived before, it needs to be tested again. And again.
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
If I only had 8 mansions I also wouldn't want my money to be wasted by any government program.
MY OTHER COMMENTS
> Two women doing a space walk together is history. On reflection, wouldn't you agree that it is news for nerds?
How, precisely, are their genitals relevant to the job?
Obviously their genitalia isn't involved in any way.
Beethoven composing his greatest works after he became deaf is interesting because you might think a deaf person couldn't compose great music. Women doing spacewalks is interesting only if you're thinking "even women can do it". It's patronizing sexism, and it's infuriating to me because my four year old daughter picks up on that. She hears that it's special when a woman manages to do something, and understands your implicit reason you think it's special when a woman accomplishes something - because in general women can't accomplish anything. That's the unspoken assumption.
If it was not two women this story would not have appeared on Slashdot
In other words, time and effort has been lost to produce this story that could have been directed towards something else more productive.
Instead of hearing about things of actual substance done by/for women, we get drama baiting crap like this. This creates a false signals that a) society has lower expectations for women, and b) women and girls are not welcomed in these fields
This is soft bigotry of low expectations.
Why is it such a big deal if women are "walking" in space?
Is it because certain people didn't expect them to be able to do so? Who are these "certain people"? Why, it's NASA and the politically correct crowd.
It seems that, hypocritically, they don't think women are as capable as men are.
There we were, all set and ready to go, sunlight reflecting off one of the transparent panels. I saw her shoulders sag, thought What now? She spins around, lifts her visor, and asks, Does this suit make me look fat?
I replied Now that's NASA ass!
Welcome to 1960, douchenozzle.
2019 NASA Spacewalkers Pinup Calendar
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
But the first women-only venture outside of the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both women will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
But the first negro-only venture outside the confines of the space station will have to happen on another day... In the end, both negro's will have done a spacewalk -- just not together.
Judging an event based on the sex of the participants is not sexist?
And this mindset got 9 modpoints in this thread alone.
Amazing.
It has extra armor plates instead of extra heat sinks and a small pulse laser. It's already at max tonnage and they didn't have anywhere to store the extra plates because the cargo bay is full after SpaceX delivered a new Long Tom cannon no one asked for.
You realize that Trump's SALT tax deduction reduction, which has the Democrats so furious, is exactly the opposite of what you are complaining about?
Those rich people with 8 mansions will now be required to pay MORE Federal taxes, because of Trump.
Any wonder the Democrats hate it?
It's not progress because women won't do what they have to do to get shit done. She already went on one EVA with the large suit and had no problem but now all of sudden she wants a different size? If she gave a shit, she'd shut the fuck up, put the large suit on, and do her fucking job like any man would. My guess is she did this shit on purpose because she didn't want to be the first woman to do anything. She didn't want the fame and the constant interviews and people giving her attention she didn't specifically demand.
Women won't ever progress. I don't know the word for it but they simply give up at the first sign of something being too hard/uncomfortable/imperfect. They won't get dirty and they won't suffer for what they want. It's pathetic.
Here is a fantastic video addressing this Question!
(Worth the time)
https://www.bitchute.com/video...
The crazy post from APK that claims his/their software will fix this problem? It seems to fix everything else!
Unfortunately it doesnâ(TM)t seem to be possible to do that anymore. The PR people tell you where to go, how to stand, and you better smile.
Sorry I see nothing wrong with your rewording that you seem to think will sound "offensive". I think we can identify exactly who is being offended unnecessarily here, and it is YOU.
Sexism doesn't require negative repercussions. It just required prejudice against a sex. Prejudice is defined as being a "preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience." For someone who has a faux dictionary definition in their sig I would suggest you try looking up the words you are talking about before you pretend to be an expert next time. SJW, n: "Someone who makes up definitions for words to suit their own prejudices."
You realize that space suits designed in the 1980s and built around 2000 have existed for more than one president's tax cuts, right?
Also:
Those rich people with 8 mansions will now be required to pay MORE Federal taxes, because of Trump.
Only if they're morons. Or more precisely, their accountants are morons.
One of the benefits of having 9+ mansions is you essentially get to pick which state you "live" in for tax purposes. So you can pick a state with low/no income tax in which you receive your income.
The people fucked by removing the deduction for state and local taxes is the middle class. The rich, as usual, have a work-around.
If there is a suit on board the ISS that is not ready for use, then it might as well not be there. OTOH if it's really a matter of only 12 hours of work to get it ready and usable, rearrange the schedule to get that lifeboat ship-shape. Shouldn't the first priority on any vessel be to ensure that all operational equipment is in working order, especially life-safety equipment? If the first act of a "Babylon 5" or "Battlestar Galactica" episode showed a suit still in its bubble-wrap, you could bet that by the end of the episode someone would be dead because that suit was not ready. ("Star Trek" would have had someone manage to get it ready JUST IN TIME, because "failure is not an option", but that's not always how the real world works in an emergency.)
Ms. McClain had thought she would be able to work in a large-size torso, but after her spacewalk last Friday, she wore a medium-size torso and learned that it fit her better.
I'm confused by the wording here. Is it saying she wore a large one on Friday, but then found out afterwards that a medium fit her better? Or it saying that she thought a large would fit, but instead tried a medium. Then afterwards she determined the medium fit and the large wouldn't?
Ahh, yes. The "male feminist" approach, seeking to be supportive of the self-empowered "damsels in destriess" by "showing your sensitivity" to get laid.
How's that working out for you?
...about to be in a televised all-female premiere before the nation that she dieted a bit so that the world gets told she needs a smaller space-suit.