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Forum: General Stuff Topic: NASA started by: Leisher Posted by Leisher on Jan. 15 2016,07:25
I'm watching the spacewalk live right now and they're unscrewing a panel. The discussion between the astronauts and mission control is blowing my mind. The astronaut is describing how much pressure he's putting on a wrench and mission control is responding with how much torque is on the bolt he's unscrewing, how much pressure they expect he'd have to apply and how many turns it'll take to remove it. Crazy attention to detail. Posted by GORDON on Jan. 15 2016,07:33
Yeah they typically don't measure things in "cunthairs."
Posted by TPRJones on Jan. 15 2016,07:39
Honestly that's part of where NASA has gone wrong. They were always precise in their plans and construction, but when it came to execution that is not the sort of back-and-forth you'd have heard between Houston and an Apollo capsule. Somewhere along the way they lost some of the gumption that takes the well-laid plans and turns them into inspirational achievements.
Posted by Malcolm on Jan. 15 2016,07:39
NASA needs how much money to tighten a bolt?
Posted by GORDON on Jan. 15 2016,07:45
Reminds me of the time in Apollo 13 when they were taking about... a fuse?.... and Flight Control says, "I want all the specs on that fuse, then I want to talk to the engineer that designed it, then I want to talk to the guy on the assembly line who built it." I think it is good they should have all the specs on a bolt and required torque and shit, so if more torque than spec is being applied, they know there is an issue and they can take steps rather than just strip/break the bolt in space where it probably can't be replaced without another $10m mission. And, the constant chatter.... why not? The dude is out there turning a bolt. Not like there's anything else for him or ground control to talk about. Might as well talk about that bolt. Posted by Malcolm on Jan. 15 2016,07:52
If it takes a fucking team of dudes to turn a wrench, then fuck ever going to the Moon or Mars. We'd need at least ten billion people if the team size scales with problem complexity.
Posted by Leisher on Jan. 15 2016,08:00
QUOTE If it takes a fucking team of dudes to turn a wrench, then fuck ever going to the Moon or Mars. We'd need at least ten billion people if the team size scales with problem complexity. I disagree. Right now, it's safety first. The attention to detail is exactly what we need at this point in our space exploration. Once we're beyond the point where this stuff is routine, that's when we can stop with the constant chatter and worrying about the torque on a bolt. I refuse to buy into logic that has us talking to QBs through headsets for every play, but not astronauts on a space walk. Posted by TPRJones on Jan. 15 2016,09:19
As long as "safety" doesn't turn into "cowardice". I think it did for a bit during the shuttle years, which is why we haven't been past LEO again in decades.
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