Space Station Fixups

The International Space Station has some problems.  There’s some rips in the solar cells, and some wiring that was torn up.  On the ground, this is under the heading of call a handyman, or get the tools, including gaffer tape, some wire and a set of Vice-Grips.  However, we are talking about the International Space Station, so it isn’t quite that easy. 

The tasks, insanely complicated, are more or less this:  Go fix a huge Venetian blind awning and rewire the clothes dryer two stories up on the roof, on a wobbly ladder, at night, wearing a parka, four pairs of gloves and sunglasses.  By the way, we can’t turn the dryer off, you have to work on it, while it’s running, with a load of rocks and sneakers, on a trampoline.

Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock began the spacewalk, the mission’s fourth, at 6:03 a.m. and just wrapped it up, successfully.  About all that was missing was a can of WD-40 and some cussing.  Way kewl.