Backfill: Tools in Space

T isn’t exactly your typical modular
home. The astronauts now working to
assemble the 500-ton station — which
will eventually provide long-term living
space for up to seven crew members —
are faced with some unusually challenging
conditions. Temperatures at the job
site range from a sweltering 150°F on the
sunny side to a numbing 100°F below in
the shade. All the work must be done
with cumbersome, pressurized space-suit
gloves. In the zero-gravity environment,
a dropped object instantly becomes an
irrecoverable piece of space junk.
As you would expect, the job involves
some highly sophisticated tools and
equipment. They include a 55-foot
robotic arm capable of “inchworming”
jacket” that enables an accidentally
untethered astronaut to jet back to
safety,