Repairing a torn array
During the STS-120 mission on the ISS, crew members reconfigured the station’s power systems, requiring them to roll up and then unfurl two solar arrays. The first array re-opened without issue, but the second array formed a nasty tear (see image above). NASA explains how the problem was resolved:
Working with the onboard crew, mission managers devised a plan to have one of the astronauts essentially suture the tear in the panel. Appropriately enough, one of the two STS-120 spacewalkers, Scott E. Parazynski, was also a physician and he put his suturing skills to good use. Attached to a portable foot restraint, Parazynski was hoisted atop not only the station’s robotic arm but also the Shuttle’s boom normally used to inspect the Orbiter’s tiles, the impromptu arrangement providing just enough reach for Parazynski to successfully repair the torn array using a newly-designed tool dubbed “cufflinks.” After he secured five cufflinks to the damaged panel, crewmembers inside the station fully extended the array as Parazynski monitored the event.
This was one of the more riskier EVAs, as the image above makes abundantly clear, but the procedure was completed without incident.
