Astronaut to Attempt Spacewalk Record

MattSparkes writes "Two residents of the International Space Station will take a spacewalk tomorrow to try to jam a stuck antenna on a docked cargo ship back into place. The spacewalk will set a US record of over 65 hours spacewalk experience. During the spacewalk, the astronauts will "use a hammer and a chisel to try to pound the antenna into place". Precision engineering at its very best I'm sure you'll agree."

A US record? Yawn

[Kell Bengal]

Oh, a record for US astronaut spacewalks? Yawn. That Russian has 80+, you know? US triumphs are not so special as to be noteworthy compared to the superior exploits of other nations. This mind-set isn't new - I recall learning about the space race in grade school and god help you if you remembered who Yuri Gagarin was but forgot that first American guy in space, whoever he was.

Hammer Time

[rodney dill]

If it doesn't work, hit it with a Hammer.
If you break it, it didn't work anyway.
(usually as applied to delicate electronic equipment)

Re:A US record? Yawn

[DNS-and-BIND]

Yes, because PR has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the continuance of manned spaceflight.

You're right, the mind-set isn't new, sports records are also kept by country. In my high school, we even had state and local records! But God forbid that anyone else than America be chastised for it. I'm sure that my principal should have looked up the times of that Kenyan fellow who was faster than any of our track team.

Re:Related metalworking question-

[multipartmixed]

That depends on how you use the chisel.

If you use it to flake bits of metal off, then yes, there will be flakes. But chances are, they're just going to use the chisel as an impromtu guillotine to cut through the antenna legs. Chiselling away at them would serve no purpose.

It better have cost more!

[c6gunner]

When you're paying about $20,000 to lift that hammer into orbit, I sure as hell hope that they'll splurge, instead of going for the $5 Walmart model. Ditto for their food. When each meal costs that much to lift to orbit, they may as well eat caviar, lobster, and Dom Perignon. The added cost is insignificant.