Lost in space: the astronauts' toolbox
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REUTERS/NASA TV
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper's tool bag moves away from the International Space Station in this view from her helmet camera as the tools were lost accidentally during her work cleaning and replacing the station's solar array trundle bearing
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A spacewalking astronaut accidentally let go of her tool bag after a grease gun inside it exploded, and helplessly watched as it floated away with everything inside.
It was one of the largest items ever to be lost by a spacewalker, and occurred during an unprecedented attempt to clean and lube a gummed-up joint on a solar panel.
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper was just starting to work on the joint when the mishap occurred.
She said her grease gun exploded, getting the dark grey stuff all over a camera and her gloves. While wiping off herself, the white, backpack-size bag slipped out of her grip, and she lost all her other tools.
"Oh, great," she mumbled.
Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper and her fellow spacewalker, Stephen Bowen, then went on to finish their tasks in six hours and 52 minutes by sharing tools.
Mr Bowen had his own tool bag with another grease gun, putty knife and oven-like terry cloth mitts to wipe away metal grit from a clogged joint at the space station.
"Despite my little hiccup, or major hiccup, I think we did a good job out there," Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper said after returning to the space station.
Flight controllers were assessing the impact the lost bag would have on the next three planned spacewalks.
Earlier, the spacewalkers spotted a screw floating by, but were too far away to catch it. "I have no idea where it came from," Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper told Mission Control.
Mission Control said the screw was not considered a serious hazard, but did not immediately elaborate on the missing tool bag. Flight controllers were tracking its location in orbit.
The lost bag marred what had been a near-flawless mission by Endeavour and its seven-member crew.
Putting her disappointment aside, Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper - the first woman to be assigned as lead spacewalker for a shuttle flight - carried out her work on the joint with Mr Bowen.
For more than a year, the jammed joint has been unable to automatically point the right-side solar wings toward the sun for maximum energy production. The repair work - expected from the outset to be greasy and hand-intensive - is supposed to take up much of all four spacewalks.
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Comments
I thought it was all overly serious and that there were never any serious mishaps but I think it would be quite funny to see a screw fly by. And then see someone fail at grabbing it. That has to be amusing.
I thought it was all just doom and gloom, warning people on Earth of natural disasters and being all so wary of the actual being in space. Ofcourse it would be worth while knowing that all your doing is really beneficial and especially seeing the Earth from space.
The most exciting my life gets is my buy to let remortgage. And children refusing to be fastened in the car. And pasties going wrong.
And I bet that all those people reading this will think that that is what happens when you let a woman be in charge, that it all goes wrong. Just forgive and forget guys.