Canadian Robot Arm Working Fine

iamklerck writes: "According to this CNN story, the Canadian robot arm attached to the International Space Station is now working perfectly. Apparently, the arm worked fine when they tried it again. This means the US will be able to launch its $164 million dollar airlock."

Re:NTSB Report

[Timber_Wolf96]

Space.com has a good article [space.com] that sheds more light than CNN.

Although the Anonymous Coward was trying to be funny, he/she/it may have been on the right track. A recent article in Discover Magazine addresses the psychology problems associated with long durations in space. [discover.com]

NASA Engineers seen fairly confident now that the tip hung-up because of thermal expansion in parts of the arm. Modern mishap analysis teaches that there is usually a series of things that collectively add up to a mishap. Thermal expansion could be one of the material causes (an other possibility being poor engineering), but what of human related causes?

Perhaps Voss and Helms were not a peak performance levels while starting the checks on the arm. Voss has been quoted as saying, the tip of the arm "held on for a little bit longer than it should have, and then the built-up forces allowed it to release. It just backed off a little bit, came back in and contacted the grapple fixture, and then bounced off again." What were they doing while the arm was not responding as it should?

Look at the psychological factors the crew is experiencing. They has been onboard since mid-March. They have recently learned that their stay will be extended. They have dealt with a robotic arm that isn't working as it should. They have been frustrated by delays in installing the new airlock. And even Denis Tito talked about the grueling hours on mind-numbing tasks. [cnn.com]

In June of '97, the Russian space station Mir suffered a nearly catastrophic mishap when a resupply ship collided with the space station. This mishap has since been at least partially attributed to human error. The cosmonaut at the controls was mentally exhausted from four month of living on a tiny ship that had experienced myriad problems already.

I think the future of space travel is going to see more psychologically related problems as we push ourselves for longer and longer. This isn't to say we should stop. We should instead forge ahead and learn as much as we possibly can from every moment.

Re:NTSB Report

[geoswan]

[Dennis Tito was asked...] Could his millions have been better spent on those in need rather than a personal vacation in zero gravity?

"This money should have been spent on the poor. And it was. One hundred dollars a month is the average salary of a Russian aerospace worker," Tito quipped.

This is my favourite quote from the CNN [cnn.com] article. I think it is a good point.