Awesome Space Walk Photo

Here is a great photo taken at the end of the extra-vehicular activity spacewalk on Sunday. The photo is of  Endeavour's lead spacewalker Andrew Feustel entering the International Space Station (ISS) being outside for 8 hours and 7 minutes, the 6th longest spacewalk in history.

Credit: NASA (photo) | Discover Channel (story)

NASA Weighing Options Regarding Space Station Equipment Failure

According to the NASA website Teams in Mission Control in Houston are weighing the options with regards to a cooling loop that has had a mechanical failure and space walks are being considered. The loop that was shut down, and since been unable to restart, is one of two cooling loops and the problem seems to be associated with a pump that circulates ammonia. The failed loop is said not to have placed the crew in danger "The space station crew is in no danger and all systems are stable, though operating in a "single string" mode without redundancy. " 

Thankfully there are two spare pump modules aboard but they are located on the outside of the IIS and thus the potential for a spacewalk to retrieve the parts. 

NASA says "Two of the four main buss switching units are cooled by the failed loop. The units switch and route power to various station systems. Mission Control is evaluating whether the heat generation may be low enough to not require powering off these switching units. With the loss of the cooling loop, several systems have been shut down, including one of two S-band communication circuits, one Global Positioning System circuit, several DC to DC current converters in Tranquility and a set of components that route commands to station equipment. Though two of the four station Control Moment Gyroscopes initially were turned off, the crew installed a jumper cable to regain a third gyro. The gyroscopes maintain the station's attitude in space."

As someone who works in the IT field, I feel much safer when the redundant systems are in place. This is however precisely why you build redundancy into systems and I'm sure NASA is considering all of the potential dangers and making their decision accordingly.

Shuttle Discovery Touches Down

The crew of the space shuttle Discovery had an extended mission by about 90 minutes when it's first entry window was waved off by Mission Control because of cloudy and windy conditions in Florida. The missions main goal was to install a final set of solar panels on the International Space Station which required 3 space walks. "We're very proud to have left the space station with more power, hopefully power that for many, many years will provide very useful research to your future payloads," mission commander Lee Archambault said before undocking from the station on Wednesday.

Source: CBC

NASA Asjusts Plans After Astronaut Loses Tool Bag

A briefcase-sized tool bag drifted away from astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper on Tuesday during the first of four scheduled space walks to repair a joint used to position a solar panel towards the sun. Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen where about half way through their first day when the bag somehow became untethered and floated away. The bag contained a pair of grease guns, wipes and a putty knife and NASA is now considering having the two astronauts share tools from Bowen's bag in order to complete the repairs. "What it boils down to is all it takes is one small mistake for a tether not to be hooked up quite correctly or to slip off, and that's what happened here,"according to lead spacewalk officer John Ray. At least there's a back up, what a costly mistake it could have been if the repairs could not be completed. Just goes to show that regardless of how much you train and practice we are human afterall and stuff happens. Discovery Channel Story.

NASA's Goo Test - Looking Good

The lead spacewalk planner for the Johnson Space Center, Zebulon C. Scoville called an Orbital Putty test during the most recent space walk “a huge success,” saying “We’re just thrilled with the way it turned out.” The putty was dispensed using a “goo gun” formally known as a tile repair ablator dispenser. The substance has been under development in an effort to give shuttle crews a means of repairing damaged heat resistant tiles before re-entry. The test results will have to be examined further on earth once the crew returns, but the tile repair kit seems to have preformed as well as it did during trials back on earth. The NY Times points out that the Columbia crew would not have been saved by such advances as the hole that proved to be the cause of the tragic re-entry disaster was too large to be fixed in such a fashion. NASA has however, been working hard to limit the amount of foam and ice that contacts the delicate shuttle tiles and the combination of that work and the new repair kit could save future flights. This is a great step, and I love that name... Zebulon! It's fitting that he works for NASA.