Astronaut loses NASA's $500 hammer and other tools during spacewalk!

[ddeclue]

:rofl:

Sorry but but it was just too funny for me to pass up... Watch for Letterman, Leno and Stuart to have some fun tonight...

:rofl:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/11/18/endeavour.spacewalk/index.html

(CNN) -- Things didn't go quite according to plan for astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during her spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday.

Astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper maneuvers by the tail of the docked space shuttle Endeavour.

First, a grease gun inside her tool bag leaked, coating everything inside with a film of lubricant. While she was trying to clean it up in the absence of gravity, the whole bag floated away.

Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen were outside the space station on the scheduled six-hour spacewalk, the first of the space shuttle Endeavour's stay at the station.

After completing a few preliminary tasks, Stefanyshyn-Piper was beginning the job of cleaning and lubricating the gears of the station's malfunctioning starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, or SARJ, when she discovered the grease gun leak and then lost the bag.

The starboard SARJ is designed to allow the solar panels on the left side of the station to rotate and track the sun. It started malfunctioning soon after it was installed, and astronauts soon determined the gear assembly is full of metal shavings, a sure sign that metal is grinding on metal.

Cleaning and lubricating the starboard SARJ is a time-consuming job, and will take several spacewalks to complete. When finished, the joint should be partially functional again. More extensive repairs are planned for the future.

Stefanyshyn-Piper was able to share tools with Bowen, and NASA mission controllers expressed confidence that the lost tool bag would not be too much of a problem for the duration of the spacewalk.

Mission controllers were also tracking the lost bag, which they say is floating well clear of the station and drifting further away.

Stefanyshyn-Piper is a member of the crew of the Endeavour shuttle that docked at the ISS Sunday to help install more living areas and upgrade amenities at the station.

[Why Syzygy]

1. No one ever thought of a strap? nt

[ddeclue]

3. Last I heard they DO use tethers on these things

but I don't know exactly how the bag got away...

I hope the Shuttle doesn't get a flat before they have to land, they won't be able to change the tire now...

:rofl:

(Just kidding..)

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Hmmmm. What a concept.

[SoxFan]

2. This why I'm not an astronaut

Well, that and being utterly inept at calculus...

[ddeclue]

7. I'm "ept" at the calculus...

I have an aerospace engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a pilot's license - I'd love to be an astronaut but it's just so damned selective these days that I'd never have a chance - The shuttle program originally was looking for a wider mix of qualifications but ever since Challenger they've progressively upped the anty as they've reduced the mission count. These days you basically have to be:

a) at least a Ph.D., preferably with more than one or with a Ph.D / M.D. combination

b) speak English, Russian and preferably one other language.

c) have 5,000 hours of jet time in military aircraft.

d) have perfect vision, hearing and health.

e) have some special angle like a specialized research topic that no one else has.

AND)

f) been the luckiest son of a gun in twelve states to boot.


Doug D.

[SoxFan]

14. That sounds like the astronaut I know

There's a Dartmouth professor (and a Democratic activist) named Jay Buckey who was a mission specialist on Columbia about ten years ago. Ive League faculty, physician, Air Force veteran. Probably walks on water and could kick the asses of both Chuck Norris and Tim Tebow.

[ddeclue]

18. Probably can walk on water WHILE kicking Chuck Norris' and Tim Tebow's ass

simultaneously and telling them how he's going to do it in both Japanese and Russian..

:rofl:

I think I actually met the Don Juan astronaut who was dating the married astronaut and the other female astronaut that led to the attack at the Orlando airport.

At the time he was a military test pilot and came into our flight school up in Tullahoma TN but I didn't think anything of him until I heard about the whole diaper astronut story.

[slackmaster]

19. The astronaut who was in my high school class wouldn't drink soft drinks

Because they were fizzy.

He was brilliant at math, and one of the best chess players I've met.

[ddeclue]

21. Tribute: Wierd Al's "White and Nerdy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw

:rofl:

[Aviation Pro]

31. I'm also adept in calculus, but selection is based on a far more....

...wide ranging set of criteria than you think. Right now the ISS is a very glamorous construction site and the most important component for it is - you guessed it - money. The guys and gals who make up the astronaut corps are extraordinary in every way possible in their own fields. If I was young enough, I'd go back to school for one of the following:

1. Engineering physics
2. Aeromedical engineering
3. Some advanced and esoteric life sciences degree

These, combined with a unique set of personality traits, will take you a lot farther in becoming an astronaut than 5000 hours in some pointy nosed aircraft.

[ddeclue]

32. You didn't read what I wrote..

getting 5,000 hours is like step 1 of 29... read the rest of it and you'll see that I understand your point entirely. ( I forgot originally to mention scuba diving credentials but those are important too these days...)

Doug D.

[sandnsea]

34. Everyone wants to be smarter

than an aerospace engineer. Even if it's just that one time you made a snarky post on that thar message board. :)

[ddeclue]

38. Trust me these astronauts make me feel like a kindergartner...

:)

[sandnsea]

42. Just your list of qualifications

made me feel like a kindergartner. If I ever meet an astronaut, I'll remember that old saying about opening your mouth and removing all doubt.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

4. Holy shit!

I just found a really nice hammer in my yard!

[theoldman]

5. But was it worth $500?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

6. I doubt it

but it has some guys name on it "Nasa."

[ddeclue]

11. Actually if it flies in space it's probably a $500,000 hammer

:rofl:

[Motown_Johnny]

51. I think the number is $10,000 a pound to lift something into space

if my memory serves, and that is rounding.


so a 3 Lb. hammer would be more like 30k

[ddeclue]

52. A shuttle flight on average (this varies by mission) costs around $500M

and the max payload used to be 65,000 but now is somewhat less... let's just say 50,000lb so 50,000 x 10,000 =500 M so your cost estimate is pretty good.

Doug D.

[ddeclue]

9. Was it glowing white hot in the middle of a big flaming crater?

:rofl:

[QueenOfCalifornia]

17. No...

it was in a big block of ice and now the cat is glowing.

[salguine]

8. $500 for a hammer...I'll bet the grease gun was about $360,950.

[ddeclue]

13. Yeah it probably was a $500,000 hammer

the Air Force only needs the $500 hammers but they aren't good enough to go into space..

:evilgrin:

:rofl:

[salguine]

26. I know. I got a grease gun at Stevens Hardware for $14.95.

[ddeclue]

27. Yes but can your grease gun:

work in zero gravity

survive a 20 G crash

operate in a vacuum with one half of it heated to 250 F and the other side cooled to -250F?

:rofl:

[salguine]

56. I dunno. I expect that, since I myself would most likely

not survive a 20G crash or operate in a vacuum with one half of ME heated to 250 F and the other side cooled to -250F, the question would be rendered moot.

[IDemo]

12. When you drop a tool off the back of your pickup, you don't have to worry

that it may come through the windshield at high speed 6 months later.

[ddeclue]

15. That's gonna hurt!

Or the possibility that it survives re-entry and goes through somebodies roof, the the second floor, first floor, the basement, the foundation, and ends up embedded 52 feet underground somewhere.

:rofl:

[Lerrad]

22. Thats one hell of a hammer. I hope it wasn't a sledge hammer. n/t

[ddeclue]

24. When it's moving 6,000 miles an hour at impact...

it could be a paper clip and end up 52 feet underground...

:hide:

[Skidmore]

16. Did anyone check his lunchbox?

[ddeclue]

23. actually HER lunchbox but nope...

accidental satellite launch....

:rofl:

[Lerrad]

20. I hope she dosen't lose Bowen's tools as well...

If I were Bowen, there is no way I would share my tools.
Tools are one thing that I do not lend to anyone.

[lunatica]

25. Quick! Duck!

:scared:

[shireen]

28. not just any tools

they're expensive because they have to be designed for use with thick gloves worn by the astronauts. And they have to be certified for use in microgravity. The grease gun thing may sound pretty funny to us on Earth (and it is!) but up there, such incidents can get very serious if delicate machinery gets contaminated by grease or a layer of grease sticks to the astronaut's helmet, obscuring her view. Or if a hammer crashes into the space station causing structural weakness or tears into solar panels or misaligns an antenna.

If something like that happened during the Hubble telescope servicing mission next May, it could be really really bad. The grease, even in tiny amounts, could stick to telescope optics, cutting down light transmission and degrading images. (We already have to deal with very very small amounts of contaminants that affect UV wavelength transmission for the WFPC2 instrument.) Fortunately, I can't think of any reason why they'd need a grease gun for the Hubble repair. And if that hammer got loose and went down the barrel of the telescope towards the primary mirror, ohh ... i don't even want to think about that!

Stay safe, brave astronauts .... :hi:

[ddeclue]

30. I'm a degreed aerospace engineer from Georgia Tech

and I know all this (I was a grad intern back at MDSSC at KSC back in 1992) but hey if we can't make fun of this stuff WHO will?

:rofl:

This isn't the biggest screw up of all time in the space program... I think that might have to go to the guys who wrote nav software in mixed standard and metric units a few years back for the Mars probe that dug a big crater instead of soft landing.

There was also a probe that got launched into space with tools aboard that stopped talking.

Finally there was the nav software that got the rotational constant for Earth's rotation off by a factor of 10. You could see it in the telemetry data on the launch pad but no body noticed until after launch when it got stuck in a useless orbit and had to be destroyed.

:rofl:

[tigereye]

48. it's cool to read info from you folks who know how this all works..

pretty cool!

[shireen]

66. "software in mixed standard and metric units"

oh god! I still cringe when i hear that! :rofl:

[ddeclue]

67. Here ya go... the story of when software goes bad...

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/news/mco991110.html



Douglas Isbell/Don Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC Nov. 10, 1999
(Phone: [phone] ) Embargoed until 2 p.m. EST

RELEASE: 99-134


MARS CLIMATE ORBITER FAILURE BOARD RELEASES REPORT, NUMEROUS NASA ACTIONS UNDERWAY IN RESPONSE
Wide-ranging managerial and technical actions are underway at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, in response to the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter and the initial findings of the mission failure investigation board, whose first report was released today.

Focused on the upcoming landing of NASA's Mars Polar Lander, these actions include: a newly assigned senior management leader, freshly reviewed and augmented work plans, detailed fault tree analyses for pending mission events, daily telecons to evaluate technical progress and plan work yet to be done, increased availability of the Deep Space Network for communications with the spacecraft, and independent peer review of all operational and contingency procedures.

The board recognizes that mistakes occur on spacecraft projects, the report said. However, sufficient processes are usually in place on projects to catch these mistakes before they become critical to mission success. Unfortunately for MCO, the root cause was not caught by the processes in place in the MCO project.

"We have mobilized the very best talent at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to respond thoroughly to the specific recommendations in the board's report and the other areas of concern highlighted by the board," said Dr. Edward Stone, director of JPL. "Special attention is being directed at navigation and propulsion issues, and a fully independent 'red team' will review and approve the closure of all subsequent actions. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to maximize the prospects for a successful landing on Mars on Dec. 3."

The failure board's first report identifies eight contributing factors that led directly or indirectly to the loss of the spacecraft. These contributing causes include inadequate consideration of the entire mission and its post-launch operation as a total system, inconsistent communications and training within the project, and lack of complete end-to-end verification of navigation software and related computer models.

"The 'root cause' of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units in a segment of ground-based, navigation-related mission software, as NASA has previously announced," said Arthur Stephenson, chairman of the Mars Climate Orbiter Mission Failure Investigation Board. "The failure review board has identified other significant factors that allowed this error to be born, and then let it linger and propagate to the point where it resulted in a major error in our understanding of the spacecraft's path as it approached Mars.

"Based on these findings, we have communicated a range of recommendations and associated observations to the team planning the landing of the Polar Lander, and the team has given these recommendations some serious attention," said Stephenson, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.

The board's report cites the following contributing factors:


errors went undetected within ground-based computer models of how small thruster firings on the spacecraft were predicted and then carried out on the spacecraft during its interplanetary trip to Mars

the operational navigation team was not fully informed on the details of the way that Mars Climate Orbiter was pointed in space, as compared to the earlier Mars Global Surveyor mission

a final, optional engine firing to raise the spacecraftÕs path relative to Mars before its arrival was considered but not performed for several interdependent reasons

the systems engineering function within the project that is supposed to track and double-check all interconnected aspects of the mission was not robust enough, exacerbated by the first-time handover of a Mars-bound spacecraft from a group that constructed it and launched it to a new, multi-mission operations team

some communications channels among project engineering groups were too informal

the small mission navigation team was oversubscribed and its work did not receive peer review by independent experts

personnel were not trained sufficiently in areas such as the relationship between the operation of the mission and its detailed navigational characteristics, or the process of filing formal anomaly reports

the process to verify and validate certain engineering requirements and technical interfaces between some project groups, and between the project and its prime mission contractor, was inadequate
The failure board will now proceed with its work on a second report due by Feb. 1, 2000, which will address broader lessons learned and recommendations to improve NASA processes to reduce the probability of similar incidents in the future.

Mars Climate Orbiter and its sister mission, the Mars Polar Lander, are part of a series of missions in a long-term program of Mars exploration managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.

The Board's report is available on-line at:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/MCO_report.pdf

Charts used in the briefing today are available on-line at:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/MCO_charts.pdf


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Home Mars Polar Lander Deep Space 2 Microprobes Mars Climate Orbiter
Welcome Mailing List Links Credits

For questions or comments on this website please refer to our list of contacts.

[shireen]

68. thank you! I'm bookmarking it, that has got to be the worst ever NASA blunder! nt.

[ddeclue]

69. If you liked that link then you'll just LOVE this one:

http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachumd/horror.html

When good software goes bad!

:hide:

[backscatter712]

53. True. Tools up there are very specialized.

Something as simple as turning a screw isn't so simple up in space. All the tools have to be tethered (or ought to be tethered to prevent what happened today,) they have to have specialized designs as to make them usable in an environment where the temperature varies by hundreds of degrees, is a near-perfect vacuum, where the tool-users have to be in a spacesuit, using ridiculously thick gloves to protect from said vacuum and temperatures) and have to have specialized widgets to do things like preventing screws and bolts from floating loose, ensuring that the screw turns and not the astronaut, etc.

[ddeclue]

55. The new concept is for an "astro-bot"

to go outside for the astronauts and do all the spacewalking screw turning stuff remotely. It eliminates the time constraints and vastly reduces the risk to the astronauts and eliminates a lot of the protection requirements that humans have (although machines have limits too.)

The down side is getting machines with the equivalent dexterity and situational awareness of humans (whether the bot is just a remote controlled device, uses significant software to perform tasks or is a combination).

Doug D.

[backscatter712]

58. Good idea.

Is this where we saw those pictures of the robot that looked sort of like Boba Fett?

As they say, explosive decompression really sucks (or does it blow?) so less opportunities for accidents like punctured spacesuits and such are a good thing.

[ddeclue]

59. yes but he has R2D2's job...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Nsy9Ry9bVy4/RntcLLfoDEI/AAAAAAAADbk/YaxJf0vh52k/02-01-07-+021-ed.jpg

[miyazaki]

29. wow, what a tool. she needs to lose that middle name now. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

33. Ha, Ha. Every time someone steps outside on a spacewalk, they're risking an extremely gruesome death

And it is incredibly difficult work getting things done in zero gravity, in a spacesuit to boot.

She lost some tools? Shit happens. Personally, I have great respect for astronauts. Takes guts, bravery, and a great deal of physical and mental ability.

[ddeclue]

35. I do too but you gotta be able to make jokes and not take yourself or astronauts for that matter so

seriously...

Lighten up...

[Warren DeMontague]

36. Well, for starters, it's not really that funny.

Now, the one with the diaper, that was funny.

[ddeclue]

39. They're both funny just in different ways..nt

[JuniperLea]

37. "Runaway space hammer crashes to Earth... "

"Hitting Joe Lieberman in the head, causing him to cry out for his mommy."

[ddeclue]

40. I thought it might coulda fallen through Joe the Plumber's roof...

:rofl:

[JuniperLea]

41. A pipe wrench would have been better...

But, hey! I'll take that too!

:rofl:

[joshcryer]

43. Why does this seem to be much more common in women astronauts?

[ddeclue]

44. I don't know where you got that from...

I don't think it is actually true. Plenty of men astronauts have lost junk in space too..

[L0oniX]

45. So how are they going to fix the $30000 space toilet now?

:shrug:

[ddeclue]

47. With the 1700 dollar space plunger they left next to the space toilet.

Actually I think the "space toilet" costs several MILLION dollars.. (NOT kidding). It uses a special vacuum and impeller blades to make uh "stuff" go "down" the drain as it were.. The astronauts have to go to potty class to learn how to take a dump in space...

In the old days of Apollo there wasn't a "space toilet" as such and things were a bit messier.

Doug D.

[Blue_Tires]

46. now they gotta send up another shuttle to go find the tools

the total cost for that next shuttle trip is coming out of her paycheck

[gravity]

49. A 20,000 mph hammer flying in space

That can do some damage

[ddeclue]

50. Well actually only about 17,500 mph to 18,000 mph or so..

but for rounding purposes 20,000 is close enough...

:)

[Catherine Vincent]

54. Figured it would be a woman.

:evilgrin:

So now we have these tools and especially a hammer...floating about in space? What if aliens find that hammer and send it back through our air space? :wow:

[ddeclue]

57. Not even gonna go there about the woman astronaut stuff...

plenty of astro-dudes have lost stuff in space before too...sooner or later the tools are gona re-enter but I wouldn't worry too much as they will likely burn up before hitting anything (unless they are made out of inconel, titanium or tungsten or something...) Stainless steel can take almost the licking of titanium and might also survive.

As for the aliens you can bring that up at UU (UFO-Underground) here:
http://2012-comet.com/phpbb/ufos

:rofl:

Doug D.

[Redstone]

60. OK, just ENOUGH about the $500 hammers, OK? Will you PLEASE stop subscribing to

the kid of ignorant bullshit that the Internet promotes, without giving the subject ANY fucking thought?

Thing are more expensive if they're designed to be used in a hostile environment like SPACE, for Christ's sake, than if they're designed to be used in a sea-level setting.

Give it a fucking rest, would you? Do you have the fucking basic intelligence to understand that NASA can simply NOT go to their heighborhood Home Depot to buy tools to use in ORBIT?

If you have any engineering credentials, I'll accept your post as being worthwhile. Otherwise, not.

Redstone

[ddeclue]

62. Lighten up Francis..

I have a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering Degree from Georgia Tech, I'm a licensed private pilot, and have 16 years experience in engineering and computer programming in aerospace, defense, biomedical, and RF/telecommunications fields - I once was a graduate intern for McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company at Kennedy Space Center years ago at the beginning of my career.

Of COURSE I know that things are more expensive the higher and faster they fly. That doesn't mean I've got to be anal retentive and not see the humor in the situation.

Doug D.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

61. This needs a youtube video documenting events so badly.

[ddeclue]

63. It might have been on NASA TV but I don't think they are gonna put it

up on the highlights reel...kind of embarassing for them you know...

Doug D.

[shireen]

70. more details at these link

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts126/081118fd5/index2.html
http://news-press.com/article/20081118/NEWS01/311180001

I don't think it was the astronaut's fault. The grease gun leaked due to pressure changes. And the tools were not tethered.

[Arugula Latte]

64. If I had a hammer, I'd lose it in the morrrrrning

I'd lose it in the evening
all over outer space

[ddeclue]

65. I wonder if that will be tomorrow's wake up tune...

I'll have to see if I can't find out the wake up call time for the mission and be sure to be tuned into NASA TV...

pretty funny...

[Dem2theMax]

73. Oh, that was bad.

But I'm snickering at the thought. LOL.

I was out all day, but the TV was on NASA the whole time. Darn it. I missed the fun stuff.
Will have to catch "flight day highlights" tonight and see if they show the floating tools going bye-bye.

[obiwan]

71. Probably dropped it in the multi-million dollar toilet...

... while looking for the million-dollar replacement bolt.

Remember, if you want to really fuck something up, don't leave it to chance and do it yourself; give it to the government to do and remove all doubt.

[ddeclue]

72. I don't blame the gov't... most likely it was the astronaut's fault..

[JP Belgium]

74. You mean she lost her purse...

... and they are using every telescope and radar on earth to track it ???

:rofl:

[ddeclue]

75. What's with all the chauvinism here?

That was NOT my point....