{"id":18946,"date":"2017-05-23T21:37:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T13:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-spacewalkers-triumph-over-fussy-bolt-to-finish-quick-space-station-repair-job\/"},"modified":"2017-05-23T21:37:18","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T13:37:18","slug":"nasa-spacewalkers-triumph-over-fussy-bolt-to-finish-quick-space-station-repair-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-spacewalkers-triumph-over-fussy-bolt-to-finish-quick-space-station-repair-job\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA spacewalkers triumph over fussy bolt to finish quick space station repair job"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_334414\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-334414\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-334414\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170523-wave-astronaut-2-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Fischer on spacewalk\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170523-wave-astronaut-2-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170523-wave-astronaut-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170523-wave-astronaut-2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-334414\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA astronaut Jack Fischer waves to the camera during a repair spacewalk. (NASA TV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA spacewalkers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer replaced a faulty computer relay box on the International Space Station today, but not before dealing with a problem all too familiar to home fixer-uppers.<\/p>\n<p>The box, about the size of a microwave oven, is known as&nbsp;a multiplexer-demultiplexer or MDM. It\u2019s one of&nbsp;two MDMs that regulate the operation of the station\u2019s radiators, solar arrays and cooling loops. The component failed on Saturday, but because each box can handle all essential functions, operations on the station weren\u2019t affected.<\/p>\n<p>NASA decided to go ahead with a rapid-response spacewalk today to preserve the system\u2019s redundancy, and Whitson&nbsp;made quick work of uninstalling the failed equipment. However, when it came time to install the replacement, she&nbsp;found she couldn\u2019t secure the primary bolt that was supposed to hold it in place.<\/p>\n<p>She reported that it looked as if there were metal shavings inside the bolt hole.&nbsp;The problem was resolved when Fischer came over and sprayed compressed nitrogen gas into three of the unit\u2019s bolt&nbsp;holes, dislodging the debris. \u201cI think all three look clean as a whistle,\u201d Fischer declared.<\/p>\n<p>Whitson then successfully screwed the bolts into place.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=867011267688411136&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2017%2Fnasa-spacewalk-repair-mdm%2F&amp;sessionId=0c6bec770e34edcbabea7d83dc2e1f968e745a62&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"867011267688411136\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782802661086200417=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Victory&#8221; as @AstroPeggy installs data relay box. Ground controllers will power up box now. https:\/\/t.co\/yuOTrZ4Jut pic.twitter.com\/u2RDqff17r<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 International Space Station (@Space_Station) May 23, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a good install, everybody\u2019s happy with those,\u201d Mission Control reported. NASA engineers checked out the MDM\u2019s connections from the ground and found that everything was working normally. NASA hasn\u2019t yet determined why the faulty box failed less than two months after it was installed.<\/p>\n<p>During today\u2019s&nbsp;two-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Fischer&nbsp;also&nbsp;installed a pair of antennas to enhance the station\u2019s wireless communications.<\/p>\n<p>The outing boosted Whitson to No. 3 on the list for cumulative spacewalk time, with 60 hours and 21 minutes of extravehicular activity. The only other spacewalkers with more time are Russia\u2019s Anatoly Solovyev (78 hours) and NASA\u2019s Michael Lopez-Alegria (67 hours). Whitson already holds the U.S. record for cumulative time in space (564 days) and the world record as the oldest woman in space (57 years old).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronaut Jack Fischer waves to the camera during a repair spacewalk. (NASA TV) NASA spacewalkers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer replaced a faulty computer relay box on the International Space Station today, but not before dealing with a problem all too familiar to home fixer-uppers. The box, about the size of a microwave oven, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[717,3195,190,1078,1547],"class_list":["post-18946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-international-space-station","tag-jack-fischer","tag-nasa","tag-peggy-whitson","tag-spacewalk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}