Safety Promise After Tools Lost In Space

"We're Definitely Not Going To Do It Again," Insists NASA's Lead Spacewalker

(AP)  Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check, to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week.

"We're definitely not going to do it again. You're not going to see us lose another bag," lead spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview from the international space station with The Associated Press. "We're going to double- and triple-check everything from here on out."

During Tuesday's spacewalk, the mission's first, the tool tote floated out of a larger bag as Stefanyshyn-Piper tried to clean grease from a leaking grease gun. Tethered to the lost briefcase-sized tool bag were a pair of grease guns used to lubricate a jammed joint that controls the space station's rotating solar wing. The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut, and NASA put a price tag on it of $100,000.

The mishap left Stefanyshyn-Piper and her fellow spacewalkers, Stephen Bowen and Robert "Shane" Kimbrough, with only a single pair of grease guns for three more spacewalks during space shuttle Endeavour's nearly two-week visit at the space station, 220 miles above Earth.

Thursday's spacewalk is almost identical to the earlier one, except Stefanyshyn-Piper will have Kimbrough as a partner instead of Bowen. The spacewalkers plan to clean and lubricate the troublesome joint, as well as relocate a railcar used on the space station's exterior rail track and lubricate the end of the station's robotic arm.

Some changes were made to the spacewalk plans because of the missing grease guns.

The remaining pair of grease guns will be tethered to the outside of a larger bag so there is no chance of leaking on other equipment. A dry wipe will be wrapped around the grease guns to catch any leaks. Finally, while cleaning metal shavings, Stefanyshyn-Piper will use a prelubricated wipe rather than a grease gun to minimize sharing the last pair of grease guns with Kimbrough.

"You've got to remember, we are working with humans here and we are prone to human error," flight director Ginger Kerrick said. "So we do the best we can and we learn from our mistakes."

Once safely back inside the space station, the spacewalkers were to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the space station along with the five other Endeavour astronauts and the station's three crew mates.

The astronauts also wanted to run the first test on a newly delivered contraption that converts urine and sweat into drinkable water. Astronauts spent a good part of the day Wednesday hooking it up. The urine converter was delivered by Endeavour, along with other equipment, and will help turn the space station into a home for six crew members next year instead of the current three residents.

[piercetheval]

...The Wench lost her wrench!
...The Wench lost her wrench!
...The Wench lost her wrench!

[piercetheval]

...she let it go...it clashed with her outfit

[Marie Zarankevich]

Two words: Tether Everything!!

[Marie Zarankevich]

Of all the things we are doing in space, why are we not building a great big old space station out there??? -- Those poor astronauts keep having to knock around in tin cans and miserable RV''s out there. -- We have the money, and the transportation, and the materials, and the engineers, and the science. -- Why don''t we just DO it already. -- It''s supposed to be the International Space Station, not the International Pile of Space Junk!!!

[badnote]

Now everyone can say that they are smarter than a NASA Astronaut. No brains, no headache.

[seafang]

Well isn''t this typical of current NASA operations. These people are either dumber than a box of rocks, or else they know they are *** up so they are crooked too which is even worse. Here on the ground we have NASA''s Dr James Hansen, keeper of the global climate change graph, and he puts out fake data for last October, and then tells the so-called news media that October was the hottest October ever recorded.

Well after they found they had got the numbers all wrong, as in just reporting the September numbers again and hoping nobody would notice, they got caught with their pants down. They still haven''t got it fixed even after issuing several "corrections".
So who out there heard the great big public retraction from Hansen announcing that he screwed up and October was not the hottest on record; in fact it was rather cool, and during that hottest ever October, the arctic ice all froze back to normal levels despite government predictions that it would all melt all the way to the North pole.
And we taxpayers pay for these oafs to do this stuff.

[newsjunky5]

That stuff whizzes around the Earth for a long time. They have to keep track of all the space junk, as it can come around to whack you. I''ve been whacked by a bag of tools before, but it wasn''t flying at thousands of miles per hour. They should make her be the first one to try the water from the urine-purifier.

[voidmaster-2009]

Hey LOOK! Out here, wrenches float!

[bobnjersey]

["We''re going to double- and triple-check everything from here on out." ]

shouldn''t this have been the policy for everything you already do?