Discovery Repair Breathtaking
Even for a seasoned astronaut, it was hardly a typical day at the office.
As the linked Discovery shuttle and International Space Station streaked through orbit at 17,500 mph, astronaut Stephen Robinson made an unprecedented spacewalk to remove two strips of dangling fabric that could have imperiled the shuttle’s return to Earth. Two- hundred-and-twenty miles from Earth, Robinson was anchored to the space station’s 58-foot robotic arm, which was guided by Col. James M. Kelly of the Air Force. The spacewalk required a series of intricate maneuvers to reach the shuttle’s underside, with particular care to avoid contact with any of the shuttle’s 24,300 glass coated tiles.
Robinson and Kelly, assisted by Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, who also spacewalked, finished the repair job in a matter of minutes, a task mission controllers had allowed up to 90 minutes to complete. Robinson’s helmet camera provided a stunning view of the shuttle and the second repair, during which he plucked the second ceramic-coated fabric strip from an area near the craft’s nose landing gear door. With that he declared, “It looks like this big patient is cured.”
The success of the spacewalk was of great importance to mission controllers, who took four days to decide whether to conduct the repairs. Shuttles have flown with protruding gap fillers, which was a strong argument to do nothing. But NASA officials also appreciate that manned space travel has been under the microscope since the shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry more than two years ago when a piece of foam hit heat shielding on its leading edge. The agency had to do everything it could to eliminate a similar disaster. Ultimately, the risk of Discovery overheating during re- entry (the shuttle encounters temperatures of 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit during re-entry) outweighed the danger associated with the first onboard, in-flight shuttle repair.
By all accounts, Robinson was the perfect person to conduct the repairs, considering his lifelong fascination with flight and engineering. As a high school student, Robinson built a hang glider out of plastic irrigation tubing and other items he found around his parents’ house. Then he jumped off a cliff, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He now owns two antique airplanes.
A former research scientist who earned a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, Robinson grew up idolizing John Glenn. He ended up cruising space with him in 1998.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of Robinson’s personality is his choice of baggage on Discovery. He is carrying a lunch box from the TV show “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.” It is the same lunch box he used in elementary school in Moraga, Calif., where he took his first flying leap into space, according to the Chronicle.
Although the true test of Discovery’s repairs will not be known until its return to Earth early next week, this spacewalk appears to be a feather in NASA’s cap. We hope the ease of this repair portends a successful journey home.