Space is Busy, Active and Unkind
Sept. 3, 2012
We have been pretty much up to our ears in EVA - extravehicular activity or spacewalking - preparations and then spacewalking! I think most of you know we had a spacewalk using the robotic arm Thursday, August 30th. It went sort of long.
Getting tools ready
You don’t just “go outside.” Usually that is the fun and easy part of the entire thing. The days leading up to the EVA are the intense days with battery charging, METOX (CO2 removal cartridge) regenerations, suit sizing, tool gathering and preparation, equipment gathering and preparations, studying new procedures, reviewing and talking through how to get us suited and how to get the airlock depressed, reviewing the tasks we will do with each other and with the robotic arm, talking about cleaning up, and then talking thru a plan to get back into the airlock, and any emergencies that can come up – loss of communications, suit issues, etc.
Aki getting equipment ready
Yes, that took a lot of our time leading up to Thursday last week. Even planning when to go to sleep and what to eat are important. Remember, you are in that suit usually about 8 hours for a 6 hour EVA.
To my surprise, the most intense part for this EVA happened to be outside when we encountered our “sticky” bolt.
That resulted in a long EVA, and over 10 hours in the suit. No bathroom and no lunch.
One lesson I learned last time I was up here – you can’t get married to a plan. It seems like something you thought was going to be difficult turns out to be easy, and something you thought was going to be easy turns out to be hard. Why that is, who knows. It’s like when you are jogging on a lonely road, somehow cars going the opposite direction cross each other just when you are jogging next to them and there is a biker passing you. Why? Who knows! That was the case with the “sticky bolt.” We thought that part of the EVA was going to be easy – it ended up taking most of our time.
One thing we sort of forget about is the environment outside when we are working inside, most of the time. We get used to this being a “static” environment – watching the world go by. Well, it isn’t.
Space is busy, active and unkind. It gets really hot and cold outside. There are solar flares (makes nice auroras, but is radiation), solar wind and vacuum. All this does a number on a spacecraft, and on us.
That's me and Aki in silhouette during our August 30th spacewalk
It is amazing how you feel the sun set and rise through your spacesuit – even with your eyes closed you would know it – you can feel the heating change!
The same goes for all the material on the “outside” of the station - the metal in those bolts have probably “felt” the changes in the environment too – for the last 10 years. The station has been thru a lot of heat cycles when you consider 16 day/night cycles in a 24-hour period.
After Thursday’s “experimentation with torque and bolt turns,” a ton of folks at Johnson Space Center started working on a plan for the “next” EVA for us to go out and try again to move the bolt and install our box.
Drew Feustel (left) and Mike Fossum worked with other astronauts and engineers to evaluate procedures for tomorrow's spacewalk
They have been working all weekend and as a result we have learned some of the nuances of the mechanism that we weren’t aware of…so we are a lot smarter on how the bolt aligns and reacts. They have given us a pretty inclusive plan on how to try to work it again, probably on Wednesday.
We have been making tools to use outside to get the bolt and the housing ready to try again. Lots of folks suggested that WD40 would do the trick, but getting a can of that stuff to work in space is sort of difficult. So, we have a couple other tricks up our sleeve. Tune in on Wednesday and check us out – we are taking a lubricant - chemically inert, non-flammable - in this environment. It worked to help the Solar Array Rotary Joint work better, so hopefully it will work to get this bolt installed!
I have to add, in case you were wondering, this isn’t just some sticky bolt either. It connects a box that routes 25% of the power that comes to the station from our Solar Arrays. So, a large amount of juice from the sun is not getting to us in this situation. To add a little salt into the wound, we actually lost another part of a power channel Saturday night – a tripped circuit breaker way upstream toward the solar array. So it has to share its load with the other solar arrays too. In NASA lingo, we are getting close to “zero fault tolerant” – meaning no backups – on some of the stuff we power up.
So, it would be good if the box (power switching unit) with the sticky bolt got installed.
Aki and I are out the door Wednesday morning.
Editor's note: Spacewalkers Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide will go outside the International Space Station Wednesday, September 5th to attempt to complete installation of a spare power unit on the station's truss. The spacewalk is set to begin at 7:15 a.m. EDT, with NASA TV coverage starting at 6 a.m.
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Suni's blog and more also at nasa.gov
Sept. 4, 2012
Hutch H.
I follow the ISS activities with a great deal of interest and envy. Thanks Suni and the crew for your blogs where we earthlings can learn more of your important work there. Being mechanically inclined myself, I can readily understand the difficulties you must be having with that stubborn bolt.. I'm sure with the expertise that is available to you, the next spacewalk on Wednesday will get the job done. Thanks to you all and God Bless you and the team. Will be following your work tomorrow with interest.
HUtch in South Carolina
Sept. 4, 2012
Austin V.
I do hope and pray that you get that bolt sorted out and install the power unit because I know how important it is to have power back up there in space. No power back up means no way to get the onboard systems to work in case of an emergency.
so good luck on your EVA and Godspeed!
Sept. 4, 2012
Dianne F.
Important to have the power unit installed accurately for backup power in case of an emergency and for crew safety. I hope all goes well and best wishes.
Sept. 5, 2012
Tim C.
Toothbrush, really? I've fixed a muffler with dental floss, so it makes sense.
Did you get the retirement emails, photos and videos I posted?
Sept. 7, 2012
Shinu M.
Awesome Ms. Williams. It was a joy knowing that despite all the high-tech gadgetry, human intervention and improvisation still holds the key
Sept. 14, 2012
Michael M.
Hello Astronaut Suni Williams, I am so envious and awed at what your doing. Your Blog is interesting to say the least. My family and I enjoyed watching you on the news this evening. I can only think of one question right now, Do you experience Turbulence from the enviornment outside? Well Suni Have a Safe Journey, wish I could be up there with you, take care. Check out my Youtube channel sometime for a laugh or two.
Best wishes,
Michael Monroe
WWW.Youtube.com/Montagedrift please leave comments
Oct. 24, 2012
Kahlina N.
As a mother, can I push my kids to become astronauts? When did you know you wanted to become an astronaut? Did your parents surround you with science and mathematics? I'm hoping space travel will be easier by the time they have a chance to be in your position. What you and your colleagues do as astronauts is amazing to say the least.