Tim Allen’s Shuttle Repair for Dummies
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:01 pm by BrianA spacewalking astronaut fixed a ripped solar energy panel on the international space station Saturday in a difficult and dangerous emergency procedure that allowed the crew to extend the wing to its full length.
Spacewalker Scott Parazynski installed homemade braces on the torn wing and clipped the snarled wires that had ripped it in two places as it was being unfurled Tuesday. He then watched as the crew deployed the wing to its full 115-foot length.
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To reduce the risk of Parazynski being shocked by the electricity generated by the panel, all of the metal parts on his space suit were covered with insulating tape — triple-taped, in fact — as were all his tools.
The crew then cracked open a twelve-pack of Milwaukee’s Best and started chucking rocks at a Chinese GPS satellite.
I guess Inspiration Saturday continues unabated but if they land that thing and put it up on blocks in NASA’s front yard I’m defecting to France.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Dear Tim, Chucking brewskies at Chinese satellites would seem to be a cost effective national defense measure. If I could hurtle a “bottle of Bud” from Mineola to a 100 mile orbit, then we wouldn’t have to pay Boeing to do the job. Of course, since we can’t do that, then we will have to pay Boeing. And may God bless all the engineers tasked to do so.