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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Loosening a half-inch screw may not sound like a job for a
rocket scientist.
But now imagine performing that task 32 times with your hand
inside a pressurized glove so stiff it’s hard to bend your fingers, let alone
grab a screwdriver. Now try holding on to the screwdriver in your gloved hand
but while you’re floating in space. One additional obstacle: A strut blocks
direct access to the screws.
| Working in an underwater tank that simulates the weightlessness of space, astronaut Drew Feustel practices using a power screwdriver specially designed for Hubble repair. JSC/NASA| Astronauts do what they can to prepare for the conditions they will experience in space. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center, astronauts practice repair maneuvers on an underwater, life-size mock-up of the Hubble Space Telescope. JSC/NASA