WP:Astronauts Test Shuttle Repair Techniques(caulk gun,stubby paintbrush!)

[DeepModem Mom]

Astronauts Test Shuttle Repair Techniques
By Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 30, 2005; 10:21 AM


HOUSTON, July 30 -- Astronauts Soichi Noguchi and Steve Robinson stepped into space Saturday to test shuttle repair techniques, install the first piece of a new storage platform and troubleshoot faulty equipment....

***

Despite a large and varied menu of tasks, attention on the ground focused on tests for two of the experimental techniques that NASA would like to use for onboard repair of heat-shielding damage, a capability the space program has never had.

Early reviews were mixed. Robinson used a black, glue-like compound he described as "licorice-flavored pizza dough" to fill cracks and gouges in pre-damaged panels of the "reinforced carbon-carbon" that protects the leading edges of the shuttle's wings during reentry.

Robinson applied the compound with a caulk gun, then forced it into the cracks and holes with a putty knife. This process appeared to go off without a hitch, and the compound filled the damaged spots easily and without extensive bubbling as it did during testing on Earth.

But it swelled up, even after it started to dry....Noguchi had fewer problems with an "emittance wash" used to paint chipped sections of thermal protection tile to restore their ability to resist high reentry temperatures. Noguchi used a spongy shoe polish-like applicator to blot the damaged areas, then spread the covering out with a stubby paintbrush....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/30/AR2005073000515.html

[pfitz59]

1. Bushco could've made space the centerpiece.......

of the 21st century! Instead we have the endless "war on terror" and simmering cultural conflicts worldwide! We put man on the moon in '69, we should've had permanent presence since then, including a spacebased "dry dock" for damaged craft! These "band-aid" fixes are a shame!

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Indeed -- if we determine to pursue manned space flight...

we shouldn't do it on the cheap.

[dArKeR]

3. Totally agree. That's what you get when you have a D- college student

becoming pResident. They only thing in his mind is when he playing Army in the sand box with toy soldiers. I mean, what's left in his mind after 30 years of drug and alcohol abuse.

[FogerRox]

4. Good news-- kick for the shuttle crew

[MisterP]

17. heck, the launching of the unmanned probes has been completely

privatized! The dippy Soyuz-knockoff CEV will probably be mismanaged too. I love both manned and unmanned programs (even if I'm not into the ultimate-cheezy space-colonization Manifest Destiny bag)
The Pentagon doesn't even NEED half the money it gets--we could adequately armor and supply our soldiers for maybe 5% of the current budget, but NOOOO--if it doesn't line the pockets of Cheney, Baker, Rummy, Pappy Laius, and the rest of the PNAC clowns, it's out.

[jim3775]

5. I just watched it live on NASA TV

They had live pictures from a camera mounted on the EVA suit's helmet.

[screembloodymurder]

6. What, no duct tape?

Ill prepared.

[Benhurst]

7. The true test will be upon re-entry. NT

[daleo]

9. I don't think they did anything to the shuttle itself

These were just tests of the technology, performed on samples they took out with them on the space walk. That's the sense I got from the CNN report I saw, anyway.

[Benhurst]

11. I thought the shuttle had suffered some slight damage, and they

were trying to fix it. Oh, well. Let's hope they make it back, one way or the other. :shrug:

[DeepModem Mom]

12. I think you and daleo are both right -- they worked on "pre-damaged"...

stuff they took with them, in the spacewalk reported above. But there is damage to the spacecraft, which officials have indicated most probably will not affect re-entry -- although the final determination, I believe, is yet to be made.

[daleo]

16. Yes, I think that is it.

They are now saying they may stay an extra day in orbit. I wonder if they plan to use these new techniques on the shuttle this flight. It would be a terrible irony if they tested the techniques, but didn't attempt to repair the shuttle's damage, and then the shuttle broke up on re-entry. I don't think it is that likely, but it is possible, and it must be giving everyone involved nightmares.

[miyazaki]

8. hmmmm,

"licorice-flavored pizza dough". might attract space ants.

[daleo]

10. I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords. n/t

[noamnety]

13. I used to eat glue when I was little

but it's kind of weird that NASA is splurging on the flavored stuff for them.

Do they also have grape-scented purple markers?

[DeepModem Mom]

18. Funny, miyazaki -- welcome to DU!

[VegasWolf]

14. They need duct tape, works for terrorism! nt

[beyond_the_pale]

15. Buzz Aldrin was pushing alternatives to shuttle a few yrs ago

It's been about 7 years, but Buz Aldrin had a triumphant tour in South Florida to promote alternatives to the space shuttle program.

If I recall, it was private-based.

The Miami Museum of Science seated people on the floor and isles of their auditorium to see him speak. It was like a dream to meet and shake hands with someone who had walked on the moon.

I don't think that men from Earth will walk on the moon again in my lifetime. Sad . . . :(

[DeepModem Mom]

19. Thanks for posting, beyond_the_pale -- and welcome to DU!