Did you catch Tom and Ray’s call with astronaut John Grunsfeld on Car Talk? If not, you can find Tom and Ray’s old customer right here , hear about John’s repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope, and check out photos of John at work… in space. What did you think of Tom and Ray’s advice? Should ou…

When John first started the call, I envisioned that he was working on a motor cycle because their fasteners always seem to strip out the drive. One tool that seems to work quite well is an impact driver i.e. the driver turns when the end is hit with a hammer. The bolt or screw is driven axially as…

Cold-welding in a vacuum environment would be my guess as the cause of the sticky bolt. Keep in mind that satellites employing optical instruments are very sensitive to deposition of outgassing vapors from materials used in the fabrication of the satellite. As a result the rules are very strict as…

Amazing insight. Just curious what the temperature extremes, sun vs shad might be and what was the probable temp of the bolt he was working on?

I think the extreme cold temperatures may be the key to why the bolts seize up. This is based on some very distant past experience rather than any engineering insight. Years ago I was a powerplant mechanic in Michigan, part of a traveling repair crew that would go from one company power plant to a…

We don’t need to wonder who will be next in line to repair Hubble, the last Hubble repair mission was the last Hubble repair mission.

The temperature range I have seen mentioned is -100 to 125 degrees C (-150 to 250 degrees F). The work would probably have been done in the shuttle bay out of direct sunshine so the bolt would be fairly cool.

Very true… it’s sad, but a reflection on just how pathetic our nation is becoming. Once we could land on the Moon regularly. Now we won’t be able to replace 70’s technology with something much better to work in low earth orbit space. Orion - give me a break. How the once mighty have fallen.

I just finished a major paper on the current administrations review of the VSE. The Bush plan was not realistic and it smelled of politics. 400 billion plus to set-up on the moon and go to Mars,could we do it even if we could fund it?

It’s atomic force. I know that because I worked as a scientist in physics of solids and we used vacuum equipment in our laboratory. Parts are typically made of none-rusting materials (like stainless steel) and are cleaned thoroughly before sending them to the outer of space. Space vacuum removes re…

A Grease Monkey In Space

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greekfreek June 2, 2009, 3:33pm 6

i have a small 18 volt mikata impact wrench litium battery, small and compact which can drive or remove most anything. i have one just to work on cars with

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A Grease Monkey In Space

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