Astronauts Use Toothbrush To Fix Space Station
During their second spacewalk, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and her Japanese colleague Akihiko Hoshide were able to install a power unit on the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The astronauts fulfilled their main task to complete the installation of a new Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) on the station’s truss, which had caused problems during an August 30 spacewalk.
Williams and Hoshide used tools made of a toothbrush and some spare parts to conduct the repair. They also installed a camera on the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, during the spacewalk that lasted 6 hours and 28 minutes, according to NASA.
Last time NASA Flight Engineer Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Hoshide spent 8 hours and 17 minutes in space, but failed to install a new MBSU on the station’s S0 truss as they had difficulties driving a bolt to secure the equipment.
The MBSU is a heavy component that is used to relay power from the station’s solar arrays to its systems.
Williams and Hoshide’s previous spacewalk was the third longest in history. The longest spacewalk, of 8 hours and 56 minutes, was carried out by U.S. astronauts Susan Helms and James Voss in 2001.
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