Oct
27
The Spacewalk and the Space Shmutz
After being scrubbed and re-scheduled from this past March, the first all-female spacewalk took place the morning of Oct. 18, 2019.
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir successfully installed a 232-pound replacement for a faulty battery charge/discharge unit (BCDU) in the lab’s solar power system. It may not sound all that difficult, but it is — especially when you factor in the bulky spacesuits, tools, and weightlessness. This particular “extra-vehicular activity” (EVA) outside the International Space Station took 7 hours 17 minutes.
After President Trump congratulated the pair, Meir replied,
“Thank you. We don’t want to take too much credit because there have been many other female spacewalkers before us. This is just the first time there have been two women outside at the same time…. For us, this is really just us doing our job.
At the same time, we recognize that it is an historic achievement and we do, of course, want to give credit to all those who came before us. There has been a long line of female scientists, explorers, engineers and astronauts, we are following in their footsteps to get us where we are today.”
While the spacewalk was a complete success and the new BCDU was confirmed to be functioning properly, something unexpected was discovered afterward. Specifically, a mysterious “contaminant” was found on one of Koch’s gloves.
BGR’s Mike Wehner reports:
“After some discussion with engineers back on Earth, the best explanation thus far is that Koch’s glove came into contact with some grease on an external component. More specifically, NASA thinks that when Koch was riding the [Canadarm2] robotic arm, her adjustment of a foot restraint led to her glove brushing up against a section that had been lubricated, resulting in a messy glove.”
As of the 21st, Koch said the gloves were being analyzed on the ISS, and she described the contaminated glove as “just a little bit stained.”
I don’t know about you, but this sounds like something out of a space-horror flick. (The dismissed-as-harmless “space shmutz” turns out to be from an ancient alien microbe, which one-by-one infects the station’s crew, turning them into crazed zombies-in-space… or, something.) OK, so I’m a sci-fi nerd. But, you know, “just grease” is cool, too, I guess.
