homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Spacewalker astronaut runs into trouble

Spacewalking isn’t all fun and games – things can go bad at any moment, and in the latest spacewalk, this is exactly what happened: Mike Fincke, one of NASA’s most experienced spacemen, reported that while they were lubricating a joint in the life-sustaining solar power system of the International Space Station, they lost one bolt […]

Mihai Andrei
May 23, 2011 @ 2:15 am

share Share

Spacewalking isn’t all fun and games – things can go bad at any moment, and in the latest spacewalk, this is exactly what happened: Mike Fincke, one of NASA’s most experienced spacemen, reported that while they were lubricating a joint in the life-sustaining solar power system of the International Space Station, they lost one bolt and they got one washer stuck in a crevice.

Basically, the bolts which were holding down covers on the huge joint started popping off unexpectedly. His spacewalking partner, Andrew Feustel sums it up with just one word:

“Bummer,” he said.

You just gotta love this kind of sense of humour. However, they went into overtime, trying to fix whateved could be fixed, lubed the rest of the bolts and installed three covers. Thus, the spacewalk lasted 1 and 1/2 hours more than expected, becoming the sixth longest ever.

“You guys earned your pay for the day,” astronaut Gregory Chamitoff radioed from inside. The spacewalkers joked about getting paid, saying their reward was being outside watching the world spin by.

This was an extremely difficult mission, even for Fincke, who hadhis seventh spacewalk and Feustel, who had his fifth. They praised one another as they headed out the hatch. This is Endeavou’r second out of four planned pacewalks, afterwhich the space shuttle will go into a museum.

share Share

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Spotted Driving Across Mars From Space for the First Time

An orbiter captured Curiosity mid-drive on the Red Planet.

Japan Plans to Beam Solar Power from Space to Earth

The Sun never sets in space — and Japan has found a way to harness this unlimited energy.

Giant Planet Was Just Caught Falling Into Its Star and It Changes What We Thought About Planetary Death

A rare cosmic crime reveals a planet’s slow-motion death spiral into its star.

This Planet Is So Close to Its Star It Is Literally Falling Apart, Leaving a Comet-like Tail of Dust in Space

This dying planet sheds a “Mount Everest” of rock each day.

We Could One Day Power a Galactic Civilization with Spinning Black Holes

Could future civilizations plug into the spin of space-time itself?

Elon Musk could soon sell missile defense to the Pentagon like a Netflix subscription

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring missile attacks the gravest threat to America. It was the official greenlight for one of the most ambitious military undertakings in recent history: the so-called “Golden Dome.” Now, just months later, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two of its tech allies—Palantir and Anduril—have emerged as leading […]

Have scientists really found signs of alien life on K2-18b?

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We're not quite there.

How a suitcase-sized NASA device could map shrinking aquifers from space

Next‑gen gravity maps could help track groundwater, ice loss, and magma.

Astronomers Say They Finally Found Half the Universe’s Matter. It was Missing In Plain Sight

It was beginning to get embarassing but vast clouds of hydrogen may finally resolve a cosmic mystery.

Trump’s Budget Plan Is Eviscerating NASA and NOAA Science

Science is under attack.