The CEISMC Gazette

Georgia Tech Space Cadets: Three Tech Grads Visit the International Space Station

by Andrew Kerr
December 2008
The CEISMC Gazette

Three Georgia Tech alums flew aboard the space shuttle together last month when they visited the International Space Station (ISS). Eric A. Boe, Robert "Shane" Kimbrough, and Sandra H. Magnus had all graduated from Georgia Tech graduate programs in the late 1990s.

The mission will go down in popular history as the "one with the lost tool bag." During a spacewalk, astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper lost her grip on her bag due to a leaking (possibly exploded) grease gun. A symbol of the permanence of space junk, the bag is still out there. It can even be seen from earth with strong enough binoculars (it is being tracked at SpaceWeather.com).

However, while the media gawked at this single accident, in fact the mission achieved many goals. Aspects of these goals provide insight into the logistics of living in space and give us a peek into the future of space travel.

The lost tool bag incident occurred during an important part of the mission: the cleaning up and lubricating of the joints that rotate the ISS's solar panels to face the sun. Some time ago, ISS crew had begun to notice something strange about the performance of these joints, and inspection revealed that metal had been flaking off of them (bits of magnetized metal particles stuck to the area around the gears like silvery fur). This indicated a potential for spreading structural damage. Obviously you want your solar panels to face the sun, but now the ISS crew was forced to rotate the panels only when absolutely necessary in order to reduce the potential for the trouble to spread.

So that's what that particular mission was about; two astronauts went on a spacewalk to clean up and then lubricate the joints as a temporary solution for the problem (a full-on repair job with replacement parts is slated to occur over an estimated 10 spacewalks in 2010). Only the grease gun burst, Heide lost her tool bag, and so she and astronaut Steve Bowen shared the other tool bag in order to complete the mission.

Eric Boe, who graduated from Tech in 1997 with a degree in electrical engineering, was the pilot for the mission. After the titles of Commander and Pilot, all other passengers on Endevour are deemed "mission specialists." Mission Specialist Shane Kimbaugh, who graduated from Tech with a degree in electrical engineering in 1997, also participated in a spacewalk to address the issue of those solar panel joints. Shane and his former classmate also operated the shuttle's robotic arm, and they jointly deployed a new Air Force satellite which is being used to test the durability of a new type of solar cell.

Sandra Magnus, who got a PhD in Material Science and Engineering from Tech in 1996, was in it for the long haul. After a ceremonial swapping of personalized seat cushions with another ISS crew member, Gregory Chamitoff, who had been on the ISS since June, she took his spot while he took a return ticket back home. She will remain on the ISS until February of next year.

Because people spend a long time at the space station, the shuttle delivered new supplies, including a new toilet and some living quarters, which will enable the crew to double in size from three to six by June 2009. Living quarters are called "quarter racks," and judging from photographs on NASA's web site, they are tiny, cloth-walled enclosures which are typically decorated by the occupants with photos from home.

A new refrigerator was delivered. Sandra noted in a New York Times piece that this will be especially welcome as astronauts do not enjoy drinking lukewarm orange juice for months.

Another novelty item delivered were two foot restraints "to elevate shorter crew members."

A peek into the future of space travel is offered by the delivery of a water recycler unit. It extracts drinkable water from urine and condensation (i.e., sweat). As odd (and potentially unpleasant) as this sounds, it makes a lot of sense when you consider that 15,000 pounds of what NASA terms "expendable life support" is shipped to the ISS every year. The more that can be recycled up there, the less that has to be flown up. Moreover, one day, when astronauts finally begin that long trip to Mars and back, they will not be able to depend on shuttles flying back and forth to resupply their ship.

Mission Press Kit from NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/287211main_sts126_press_kit2.pdf (PDF)
Photos from the Mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts126/multimedia/gallery/gallery-index.html

Some elements of this piece were cannibalized from this Georgia Tech press release, "Brain Reorganizes to Adjust for Loss of Vision."