Fasteners A Hurdle to Hubble Repair
Fasteners A Hurdle to Hubble Repair
Jason Sandefur
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
Editor’s Note: Articles in Media Spotlight are excerpts from publications or broadcasts that show the industry what the public is reading or hearing about fasteners and fastener companies.
The seven astronauts set to attempt repair of the Hubble Space Telescope in May face numerous challenges some the size of a fastener.
“The repairs involve removing about 150 screws and fasteners never intended to be touched in space, and that’s just to get at the wounded instruments, writes Todd Neff of the Rocky Mountain News.
The crew scheduled to pilot space shuttle Atlantis STS-125 crew hope to add a decade onto Hubble’s lifespan by attempting to fix a survey camera and imaging spectrograph, both of which were damaged by power failures.
Astronauts will conduct intricate repairs wearing spacesuits and gloves that one crewmember described as feeling like “three sets of oven mitts.” The repairs are expected to take at least five spacewalks to complete.
Then astronauts must replace dead computer boards, some that are obscured by the four-story, 12-ton telescope’s internal workings. They will also swap out batteries and other hardware.
Experts have created 30 specialized tools for the astronauts to use. The shuttle crew has been practicing repair maneuvers in a swimming pool at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. �2008 FastenerNews.com
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