>> ED: We completely shut it all the way down. >> JOHN: Yep, that
scared a lot of people, they were afraid when, you know, you
turn off the Hubble it might not come back up.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
>> JOHN: Hello, I’m John Grunsfeld, NASA astronaut.
>> ED: I'm Ed Rezac, EVA engineer for the Hubble Space
Telescope project.
>> JOHN: The Hubble is our premiere observatory orbiting
the Earth 300 miles above the surface, unraveling the
mysteries of the universe. Now Hubble has done that for almost
30 years, because we did five missions to upgrade and service
the telescope. Now in 2002, we did a mission that that repaired
some instruments, but also worked on the power system.
>> ED: That’s right. >> JOHN: That was really important
because there were indications the power
system might be failing. >> ED: It was the first time
since the Hubble launched in 1990 that we
completely shut it all the way down. >> JOHN: Yep, that scared
a lot of people there, afraid when, you know, you turn off the
Hubble it might not come back up. But fortunately, it worked
great. We spent a lot of time figuring out how are we possibly
gonna remove the main switch box for Hubble? Where all the power
goes through, 36 big connectors, all while the Hubble is turned
off and starting to get cold. You know, it’s cold in space,
Hubble could freeze. >> ED: All the connectors, by the way, on
the left side of the instrument. So we had to find a left handed
astronaut to do the work. >> JOHN: Now where would you
find a left-handed astronaut? So I’m left handed, but pretty
ambidextrous, most space-walkers are pretty ambidextrous. Now I’m
wearing these gloves because these are gloves kind of like
the spacewalking gloves that we wear. So we have to build tools
that have features that allow you to use them in the
spacesuit. And just grabbing the connectors, we weren’t sure
that, one, I could even get my fingers between all of the
connectors cause there were so many. And also, it was really
hard to reach them because of all the cables coming out. So we
had a tough time coming up with ideas, and I remember
discussions with your boss, Frank Cepollina, the big tool
inventor, of building motorized tools. Now we have motorized
tools right? >> ED: We do, we do. Like the PGT. >> JOHN: The
Pistol Grip Tool. >> ED: True! >> JOHN: Yep, that’s our power
screwdriver to loosen bolts, tighten bolts. >> ED: But it
wasn’t going to do us much good to reach in and turn those
electrical connectors. >> JOHN: Nope. So we looked at what was
available for doing avionics, for repairing airplanes, and
they had connector tools that were kind of like pliers. And we
tried those in the training, but they just didn’t have enough
grip and they were really hard to use because you had to kind
of do it two-handed to be able to hold it. >> ED: So we had to
come up with a tool that would allow John to move those
connectors or release those connectors while wearing those
spacesuit gloves. >> JOHN: Now sometimes we come up with
complex tools to solve the problem using computer chips and
motors and batteries. In this case, we came up with the high
torque, PCU, Power Control Unit Connector Tool, and it’s really
simple. This is actually my favorite [ED LAUGHS] Hubble
tool, 1. Because it worked great, and 2. Because it’s very
simple. It allowed me, in my gloved hand, to hold the tool,
my left hand. Grab a connector and rotate it to take it off and
rotate it back when we had the new unit to put it on. And of
course, if I let go of the tool it would float off into space,
so I’d have a little ring so I could put a little hook on it
and it was attached to me with a spring, so if I let go of it it
would go [SHWOOP SOUND] back. >> ED: So even though it’s a
relatively simple tool, a lot went into it, [TOOL SQUEEKS]
into the design [TOOL SQUEEKS] to make sure it was astronaut
friendly. You’ve got the extra-long handles, the tether
loop as John pointed out to maintain control of it, [TOOL
SQUEEKS] and then of course the silicone to really give a good
grip on the back shells of the connectors. >> JOHN: Yep, the
silicone pads were great because they’d give a little bit, so
when I grabbed the connector I could squeeze really hard to
make sure that it didn’t slip cause that would be bad. So we
changed out 36 of these big connectors with heavy duty
wires, took out the old failed unit, put in the new one, put
the new connectors on, turned the power back on Hubble, and
fortunately it all came back to life. >> ED: Yes.
>> JOHN: Thanks for the great tool.
>> ED: Thanks for using it!
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
[SILENCE]
>> JOHN: Got that zoom focus in there? >> OFF: Uh huh.
>> JOHN: Want to make sure it’s in focus. >> OFF: It is. Totally
is. >> OFF: It’s his favorite. >> JOHN: It is my favorite.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
>> JOHN: That's right. For the sequel. >>ED: For the sequel?
Okay. >>JOHN: Yeah. Second season. [LAUGHTER]