In Space, Someone is Always Watching
The wake-up call this morning may have left Barbara Morgan’s crewmates scratching their heads, but she knew who it was. The astronauts’ eighth day in space began with a tune written and recorded by Morgan’s son Adam.
The proud mom didn’t have much time for beaming. Barbara and the rest of the shuttle Endeavour crew had another spacewalk to get ready for. This time it was the flight engineer, Rick Mastracchio, heading out the station’s airlock for his third spacewalk of the mission, paired with the U.S. space station resident crewmember, Clay Anderson, a lively, loquacious Nebraskan who likes to work the phrase “canned corn” into his banter as much as possible.
Barbara’s job during the planned 6.5-hour outing was to maneuver the shuttle’s robot arm so good TV pictures of the men would be available as much as possible. This is not done for the millions of arm-chair astronauts who enjoy living vicariously. Keeping a watchful eye on the spacewalkers could be a matter of life or death.
Take Wednesday’s spacewalk for example. It started off smoothly, with Rick and Clay floating out the station’s airlock early. They had a few different tasks to get a solar array segment ready for its move in October when the next shuttle arrives with a connecting node for the station’s new laboratories.
They took down part of a communications antenna, then picked up the first of two work carts that needed to be moved to the other side of the station’s rail system. After the second cart was relocated, the astronauts checked their gloves for tears, a routine part of spacewalks since damage was discovered after a spacewalk at the outpost in December.
And then the unexpected news from Rick, reporting a small hole in the outer layer of his left glove.
Following flight rules, he was told to go back to the station’s airlock and hook up his suit to the station’s power, ending his work shift a couple of hours early. To add insult to injury, flight directors needed him to shut the thermal cover on the hatch door to keep the temperature within its proper range, so he couldn't even look out.
He floated alone in the small chamber, waiting for Clay to finish up some work at the top of the station’s outer left truss segment. For added safety, NASA likes to have its spacewalkers work in pairs, so Rick’s glove problem cut short Clay’s outing too.
There was only one job they didn’t get to -- bringing in two experiments -- but the shortened spacewalk was a disappointment nonetheless. The damage to the glove also adds another issue for NASA engineers to resolve. In addition to deciding if the shuttle’s slightly damaged heat shield needs to be repaired in orbit, engineers will be working around the clock to figure out how the glove was torn and if it is safe to continue as planned with the fourth spacewalk of the mission, which has been rescheduled for Saturday.
On a brighter note, Barbara is scheduled for another round of chats with school kids, this time organized by the educational institute established by the widow of the Challenger crew’s cammander. Barbara trained with the Challenger astronauts as the backup to Teacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe. She stayed with NASA for 21 years to continue Christa’s mission.