[mysterious music]
>>KATRINA: Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, or STIS, has capabilities
like searching for black holes, and looking at the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.
After STIS had a power failure in 2004, the Hubble team was
tasked with replacing STIS' damaged electronics boards on the final servicing mission
in 2009, which would turn out to be a memorable day for
everyone involved. [mysterious music]
[shimmering music] >>CHRISTY: So for about two
years, I spent almost every day with the EVA team, the four crew members.
>>MIKE: We practiced that repair many many times. We had practiced it in the water
start to finish in the pool many times. >>CHRISTY: We spent hours and days and weeks and months
going through, "What if this bolt fails? What if the cable doesn't mate?" So I felt
that we had covered as much as we could have thought of going into this
EVA. [music transitions] [electronic beeping]
[electronic beeping] >>JAMES: So we came in
to work here at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center at Goddard.
>>JEFF: And our mechanical response team was watching the EVA in a
conference room in building 29. >>JIM: I was located down at Johnson Space Center, along
with the Servicing Mission Manager. >>MIKE: The day started out really well, you know I was
trying to make it a perfect day, no problems. >>CHRISTY: So they get to the section where they
have to remove the handrail on STIS. And you have to remove this handrail that was designed actually
to help remove and install the entire instrument, in order to access
the electronics board underneath. >>JEFF: And we watched Mike Massimino
attempt to do a rather simple task. All he had to do was remove four screws
from a handrail. >>MIKE: And so the two screws at the top of the handrail came off fine,
the one on the bottom left comes out fine, I go to the bottom right. >>JAMES: We could see
the pistol grip tool spinning in the bolt head,
and the bolt wasn't coming out. >>MIKE (in space): I don't want to strip the thing.
>>JIM: Oh my god. That was the first thing, you know it's "What are we going
to do?" because this is a show-stopper right here. >>MIKE: For a while,
probably about an hour or so, we were trying different bits on the end of the power tool,
we were trying all kinds of things. >>JIM: You know and one thing
that crossed my mind was, "What would you do? What would you do at home? You know, what
would you do in your garage?" And I was thinking back to my garage you know, and sometimes what would I do?
And I'd just kinda use the brute force you know. So I thought, what about just trying to break it?
>>CHRISTY: It didn't even occur to a lot of us, just because it's something that you're not really ever trained to do
or think of. >>JIM: So one of the things that I did was I called back to James Cooper back here at Goddard.
>>JEFF: James Cooper called us on the speaker phone and said, "Hey guys, you're watching
this right?" And we said, "Yeah yeah of course." >>JAMES: We found out we did have a mock-up
of the STIS front panel with the handrail on it. >>JEFF: We came up with a quick plan.
Bill Mitchell said, "I've got two handrails inside the clean room."
And Ken Dickinson and I came up with a plan for how to rig up the test.
So we scattered into the building to get all of the materials that we were going to need.
Well it was a Sunday, no one was around. So I'm literally running
through the halls, and I run to where the techs would be, and I find a guy, Gene McAlicher,
who happened to be in the building working on another project. So he said, "Whadoyou need?!"
He seemed to pick up on my body language before I even asked my question.
And I told him, "I need a torque wrench, and I need a
digital fish scale." He takes off to go get it, I go to 190.
Ken Dickinson's already in there, and within minutes, Bill Mitchell comes
busting through the door, carrying the handrail, still in his bunny suit
and his clean room garment. We get the handrail all set up, everything's ready to go,
we text a couple pictures back and forth, James gives us the green light.
And Gene stands up on the table and starts pulling the handrail. And right when he got to
60 pounds, it snapped. Actually the bolt went flying. >>JAMES: Once we had
done that test, then I got on our communication loops and
called it to Jim Corbo. >>JIM: So ultimately, James came back
and said you know it would take about 60 pounds of force for them to break it off.
>>CHRISTY: So Goddard had done the task, fed the information to us. We talked to the flight director about it
to get him comfortable. >>DREW FEUSTEL (in space): Okay Mass, do you copy that? 60 pounds linear at the
top of the handrail to bust off that bottom bolt. I think you got that in you.
>>MIKE (in space): I could try. >>MIKE: I knew I could do that. >>CHRISTY: What if he pulls it off and there's debris?
What if he pulls off the handrail and there's a sharp edge? What if he, it takes a lot of force
and it comes back and hits him? >>JAMES: Mike Massimino was able to put some tape over
the head of the bolt to contain debris that might go flying. >>MIKE: And so
I taped it as best I could, and Bueno was with me helping me to tape that thing, and then...
>>HOUSTON OPERATOR: Houston, we don't have video right now, but we're ready. >>DREW (in space): Okay Mass- >>MIKE (in space): Here we go
[dramatic music] [the handrail breaks]
>>MIKE (in space): Pull! Disposal bag please.
>>CHRISTY: Everyone erupted in cheers. Because when he
pulled it off, he didn't see any debris, and he knew not to touch the potential sharp edges,
and then we could just put that fastener capture plate on and complete the STIS task.
>>MIKE: The rest of the repair went fairly well, STIS- I mean it was fine, actually. And
STIS is working. >>JEFF: That one or two hours that I worked on
breaking the handrail, that task, that very well could go down as the highlight
of my career. >>MIKE: So the Goddard team did a great job,
and I'm forever in their debt.
>>KATRINA: That day, the Hubble team really showcased
their teamwork and problem-solving skills. But the past 25 years of Hubble
operations are full of individuals stepping up to tackle seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. So stay tuned for more Hubble Memorable Moments.
[music ends] [satellite whooshes by]
[beep beep, beep beep, beep beep]
[fading beeps]