Having grown up in what used to be called the Space Age I have always followed the space missions closely. If you get the NASA channel via cable or satellite, be sure to check out the coverage of the current ISS (Intl. Space Station) mission.
While my wife thinks it’s like watching paint dry, the current mission has had some truly great spacewalks. Several times, including last night, they have had two astronauts at a time outside building the new robot, and assembling other components. The best shots are of the astronaut using the boom as his work platform (feet attached), and his dependence on the operator inside to put him in the right spot for the next job. “Move me 30cm up and 10cm forward.”
I also particularly like the periodic “glove checks” they do where they have to stop and describe the wear and smudges on each finger of each glove. The next time I stop during a project and DW asks what I am doing, I am going to tell her it’s a mandatory glove check.
Check it out on the web here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
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I've been watching it too.
My son use to be a senior orbital analysts at Cheyenne Mountain. He worked with the ISS and Space Shuttle missions. Cool stuff
The crew will be using their caulk gun tonight (Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser) on a spacewalk to test out the heat shield tile patching goo in space.
Given what I have seen in past videos of their technique, they could use some help from the caulk gurus on this board. :-)
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