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terror on the space station s01e01
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00:00We've got your own crew from the International Space Station. Welcome aboard.
00:06Hurtling around Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.
00:12In the most hostile place humanity has ever attempted to live.
00:18The International Space Station.
00:22In a space mission, the bad guy is the environment.
00:27The environment is trying to kill you.
00:31Now, 25 years since the first crew arrived on the ISS,
00:36we reveal the times astronauts' lives were in the balance.
00:42We're always asking ourselves, what's the next worst failure?
00:45What could go wrong next?
00:47From toxic leaks.
00:49And he's Bill Anderson. You copy? We're having a hard time with the leak.
00:53Sooner Raiders got exposed at the outside of the suit to his crewmates,
00:57who were not interested in dying horrible deaths.
01:00To equipment malfunctions.
01:02I don't understand where you're coming from.
01:05There was a risk that if the water increased dramatically, I would drown in space.
01:11Lethal showers of space junk.
01:14You've got orbital debris that can hit your module and put a hole in it.
01:20Station Houston on 2. This is an actual...
01:23To docking disasters.
01:25We are at an attitude by at least 45 degrees and increasing.
01:30250 miles above Earth.
01:34The smallest mistake could spell disaster.
01:37How do we respond to that unknown?
01:42Understanding situations may have the ultimate consequences.
01:46Split-second decisions mean the difference between life and death.
01:57From first-hand accounts from ISS astronauts and mission control who keep them safe.
02:05This is the untold story of courage, science, and survival aboard the ISS.
02:17And we need to be able to handle those things when they happen, because in space, it will happen.
02:50We need to be able to handle those things when they continue to float.
02:52for the arrival of a new module.
02:57They have spent years of training,
02:59planning for every possible outcome
03:02and every possible failure.
03:06But nothing prepared Luca for this.
03:09That's why I feel a lot of water on the back of my head.
03:14Hey, Luca, can you clarify,
03:15is it increasing or not increasing?
03:18It's hard to tell, but it feels like a lot of water.
03:22Oh, I see, uh, I see it now, wiggling.
03:29250 miles above Earth,
03:32Luca's spacesuit has malfunctioned
03:34and is leaking water into his helmet.
03:37There should never be any water inside your spacesuit,
03:40especially not in the helmet area.
03:44In the microgravity of space,
03:47liquids behave in unexpected ways.
03:52It's surface tension that drives the behavior of water
03:56and the water just wants to stick to whatever it's stuck to.
03:59Chris, you can continue to help troubleshoot it.
04:01In Luca's helmet, the growing ball of water is creeping around his head.
04:06It could smother his nose and mouth.
04:10I have a lot of water.
04:12That's the moment I think we're solidified in everybody's mind.
04:16Okay, we're done for today.
04:21All right, Chris and Luca,
04:23I think we're going to terminate EV8 case for EV2.
04:26So, Luca, we'll have you head back to the airlock.
04:28Chris, we'll get a plan for you to clean things up here
04:31and then join him in a minute.
04:36In the military, we say that problems happen at the fold of a map,
04:40at the junction of grid squares and at night.
04:42And that's exactly how this was shaping up.
04:46As soon as he started to move, the sun set.
04:51Everything turns into gold, bright gold, for one split second.
04:57Incredibly beautiful.
04:58And then it bites out.
05:14Hey, Chris.
05:15I hear you, Luca. Go ahead.
05:21Luca, I hear you?
05:24Yep.
05:28More water fills Luca's helmet,
05:30causing his communications to malfunction.
05:36I called Chris, telling him,
05:38Hey, Chris, I think I'm a bit lost.
05:40But nothing came out.
05:41And I didn't have any returning my earphones,
05:43so I knew that he couldn't hear me.
05:48Pretty soon, he's not going to have air in his helmet to breathe.
05:54If the water increased dramatically,
05:57I would drown in space.
05:59A routine spacewalk has turned into a life-or-death race
06:04back to the airlock.
06:07The next few moments will not only decide Luca's fate,
06:11but also the future of the space program.
06:20The ISS is the largest and most complex structure ever built in orbit.
06:26A triumph of international cooperation.
06:31But for those who live and work here,
06:34every moment of every day is a calculated risk.
06:38Space is a very hostile, unforgiving environment.
06:45It's an environment that we are not designed to live in.
06:52In space, there's no margin for error.
06:57Radiation.
06:59Fire.
07:00Contamination.
07:02Collision.
07:04And even drowning.
07:08Are just some of the dangers astronauts face.
07:12So the International Space Station
07:15is the place that keeps you alive.
07:19The ISS is the culmination of years of planning,
07:24beginning shortly before the turn of the 21st century.
07:29A collective effort of more than 50 nations
07:32with unprecedented ambition.
07:36To build a state-of-the-art science laboratory in space.
07:49Main engine start.
07:51Six engines up and running.
07:52At liftoff, the International Space Station is underway.
07:59The bold venture kicks off on November 20th, 1998,
08:04from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
08:08A Proton-K rocket carries the Russian component,
08:12Zarya, meaning sunrise, into orbit.
08:16And liftoff of the spatial endeavor.
08:20Sixteen days later, the U.S. Unity Module joins Zarya.
08:30But it's not until 20 months later,
08:32with the arrival of Zvezda, which means star,
08:37that life support systems and living quarters are finally added.
08:42On November 2nd, 2000, the ISS welcomes its first residents.
08:49The first crew of the International Space Station
08:51have reached their home.
08:53NASA astronaut Bill Shepard
08:56and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko
08:58and Sergei Krikoliov
09:01marking the beginning of continuous habitation
09:04on board the orbiting outpost.
09:11Three spacewalks the following month
09:14configure power systems
09:16and add a framework of trusses
09:18to support the station's solar arrays and radiators.
09:22But things are only just getting started.
09:26Great news, Mario. Go for docking.
09:28The space station's early success
09:30is followed by a sobering truth.
09:33Building a home in orbit
09:35is as dangerous as it is ambitious.
09:39And with every new addition,
09:42the risks grow.
09:48Its next module,
09:50Destiny, an American-built laboratory,
09:52will lay the foundation
09:54for U.S. scientific research
09:56aboard the station.
10:02Its installation falls
10:04to two first-time spacewalkers,
10:07Top Gun pilot Robert Beamer Kerbeam
10:09and Tom Jones.
10:14I know the thermal cover is down,
10:16so you can go ahead and do the rest.
10:20I think it's a great day
10:22to go and do a spacewalk,
10:23so Nima, when you're ready.
10:27When you're first starting
10:29and you're going out the hatch,
10:31your first thought is,
10:32I want to make sure that I get this right,
10:35that I do everything right.
10:38While their crewmate, Marcia Ivins,
10:40uses the shuttle's robotic arm
10:42to maneuver the 16-ton Destiny module
10:45into position,
10:47the spacewalking pair
10:48will assist with its attachment
10:50to Unity
10:51and integration
10:52with the rest of the station.
10:54This is when the game starts
10:57and you've got to be serious about it.
11:00It's time to go to work.
11:06Beamer, cables are complete.
11:08You have a go.
11:09Head on to the lab.
11:11Roger that.
11:15One of their primary tasks
11:17is to connect Destiny's coolant lines
11:20to the space station's cooling system
11:22to regulate the onboard temperature.
11:26Heat doesn't dissipate in space
11:28the way it would here.
11:29It just stays there.
11:32And if it just stays there,
11:33you're going to probably overheat
11:35whatever you have.
11:38Every 45 minutes,
11:40as the ISS orbits the planet,
11:43its exterior is exposed
11:45to direct sunlight,
11:47raising its temperature
11:48to a blistering 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
11:54Then, as the station slips
11:56into the Earth's shadow,
11:58the temperature plummets
12:00500 degrees to minus 250.
12:09To combat these wild temperature extremes,
12:12the space station's cooling system
12:15uses loops of mechanically pumped fluid.
12:20Inside U.S. modules,
12:22circulating water transfers heat
12:24to an external loop
12:26filled with liquid ammonia,
12:28which then passes through
12:31three waffle-shaped panels
12:32on the station's exterior
12:34to radiate the heat into space.
12:38It's this pressurized ammonia loop
12:41that Robert Kirby needs
12:43to connect to Destiny.
12:54The pressurized system
12:56keeps the ammonia in liquid form.
12:59Any crystals forming around pipes
13:01or connections
13:02are evidence of leaks.
13:11At Johnson Space Center in Houston,
13:13lead flight director Bob Castle
13:16keeps watch over Tom and Beamer.
13:19When he's got the suit on,
13:21Bob's completely fine.
13:24But one or two breaths of pure ammonia
13:27and you will very likely die
13:30within minutes.
13:32Everyone watches the systems
13:34on the station and on the shuttle
13:36to make sure that everything
13:37is still working the way it should be.
13:40While the team knows
13:42what's expected of them,
13:43in space,
13:44any number of things can go wrong.
13:50Hold on.
13:51I got a little bit of bombonia
13:53coming out of there.
13:54Some ice crystals.
13:58When I actually removed the hose,
14:00I saw a lot more crystals
14:02growing all around the two orifices.
14:08And I knew I had a problem.
14:11Getting a lot of ice.
14:13I'm just throwing you all over the place.
14:17An automatic shutoff valve
14:19has failed.
14:20Can you have a beam?
14:22Yeah, I am going to need one.
14:26I felt like I was working in a blizzard
14:28because there was so much ammonia coming out.
14:36Beamer immediately reported,
14:37oh, it's spewing all over the place.
14:39And then my counterpart, Andy Allgate,
14:41said we see the accumulator going down.
14:44And he's been landed.
14:46You got me.
14:46We're having a hard time with the leak.
14:48And stand by.
14:48We're discussing the next steps
14:50that we need to do.
14:53Without its coolant,
14:55the destiny module would be uninhabitable,
14:58potentially jeopardizing
14:59the entire mission of the space station.
15:03That heat must be ejected
15:05from the spacecraft eventually,
15:06or else you will burn up the spacecraft
15:09and the people inside of it.
15:13We don't know exactly what the leak rate was,
15:15but I knew we didn't have long.
15:19Beamer needs to find the shutoff valve upstream
15:22and turn it off.
15:24I did find very quickly
15:27that it was going to be a lot harder
15:29than I thought.
15:32The valve is stuck.
15:36When I tried to close it,
15:38it didn't close.
15:40I tried again.
15:42It didn't close.
15:44They said it was going to be
15:45about 25 pounds of force.
15:48I can tell you,
15:49I've spent a lot of time in the gym.
15:51It was not 25 pounds of force.
15:55It was much, much more.
16:04I tried to close it again.
16:10And finally,
16:11after the four or five tries,
16:13I got to close it.
16:26Mission control breathes
16:28a sigh of relief.
16:31With the leak stopped,
16:33the astronauts can connect
16:34Destiny's cooling lines
16:36to the station.
16:38The ISS is safe.
16:43What's next?
16:45But now Beamer
16:47is covered in toxic ammonia.
16:54Sooner or later,
16:55he's got to get out of the suit.
16:57And sooner or later,
16:58he's got to come back in the cabin
17:00and expose the outside of the suit
17:02to his crewmates
17:04who are not interested
17:05in dying horrible deaths.
17:09I thought to myself,
17:10what are they going to do with me?
17:12You know,
17:12now that I have this toxin
17:14on the outside of the suit.
17:19I knew that the procedure
17:22to go back into the spacecraft
17:23was going to change.
17:25I just didn't know how.
17:29Tom wipes the toxic crystals
17:31off his crewmate's spacesuit
17:34using a brush
17:35in their EVA kit.
17:48But before he can re-enter
17:50the space station,
17:52Beamer must burn
17:53the last remaining traces
17:55of ammonia
17:55off his suit
17:58in the baking heat
18:00of the sun.
18:07The amazing thing
18:08about the procedure
18:10to help me decontaminate
18:12the outside
18:13of my spacesuit
18:14was that it gave me
18:16the opportunity
18:17to just sit in the sun
18:18and watch the Earth
18:20go by for 45 minutes.
18:25which was awesome
18:26and it was incredible.
18:28I loved it.
18:34And you see
18:35the Gobi Desert.
18:37You see
18:38all the different
18:39parts of Asia.
18:41You see the Himalayas
18:43to the south.
18:44You see a little bit
18:45of cloud layer there.
18:50and you just bask in it.
19:07Over the next four days,
19:09undeterred by the experience,
19:11Beamer clocks up
19:1212 more hours
19:13of spacewalks
19:14to ensure Destiny
19:16is safely attached.
19:19The Destiny module
19:20is what we refer to
19:22as the U.S. lab.
19:24It's really
19:25our core lab capability.
19:26So we have freezers,
19:29we have different
19:29payload facilities
19:30to conduct science.
19:32This is sort of
19:34the heart
19:34of the U.S. segment.
19:36Destiny is designed
19:38for microgravity research
19:39in a variety of fields
19:41from life sciences
19:43to material science
19:44and more.
19:48Microgravity
19:49is not zero gravity.
19:52The Earth
19:52still exerts
19:53a pull on the ISS.
19:58This pull
19:59is what keeps
20:00the station in orbit,
20:01circling the Earth
20:03in constant freefall,
20:06creating an environment
20:07that allows scientists
20:09to observe phenomena
20:10that cannot be replicated
20:12on Earth.
20:16But the instruments
20:17on board
20:18are also designed
20:19to put our own planet
20:21under the microscope.
20:22We have a really unique
20:24capability to look
20:25down on Earth.
20:27Our orbital path
20:28takes us around
20:2990% of the Earth's
20:31inhabited surfaces.
20:33So this is what allows us
20:35over time
20:35to see how the Earth
20:37is changing.
20:40Our weather patterns
20:42are changing
20:42and affecting
20:43our environment.
20:45How the forest canopy
20:47is changing
20:48and the carbon cycle
20:50of Earth.
20:51You have these instruments
20:53all on the same platform
20:54going over the same area
20:56so you get a global picture
20:58of the health
20:59of what's happening
21:00to our planet.
21:02The new Destiny module
21:04not only provides
21:05a platform
21:05for scientific research,
21:07it also increases
21:09the habitable volume
21:10of the space station
21:11by over 40%.
21:13A welcome addition
21:15for those building
21:17and living
21:18on the ISS.
21:19After the installation
21:21of the Destiny lab module,
21:23it was fast
21:24and furious.
21:27Over the next 21 months,
21:29eight successful missions
21:31add the Canadian
21:32Space Agency's
21:34Canadarm2,
21:35a 57-foot-long
21:37robotic arm,
21:39Quest,
21:40which will serve
21:41as the primary airlock
21:42for spacewalks,
21:44the S-Zero truss,
21:46forming the station's
21:48backbone,
21:49and radiator trusses
21:51to help dissipate heat.
21:56All of this
21:57made possible
21:58by an iconic spacecraft.
22:04The ISS
22:05could not have been built
22:07without a space shuttle.
22:08Full stop.
22:13But in February 2003,
22:16after 16 successful
22:18shuttle missions
22:19to the space station,
22:21disaster strikes.
22:22Columbia, Houston,
22:24comm check.
22:28Columbia, Houston,
22:29UHF, comm check.
22:38Fly controllers
22:39here in mission control
22:39have declared
22:40a contingency
22:41as communications
22:42was lost
22:43with the space shuttle
22:43Columbia during
22:44its descent from orbit
22:45en route to landing
22:46at the Kennedy Space Center
22:47in Florida.
22:49After more than
22:50two weeks
22:51conducting experiments
22:52in orbit,
22:53space shuttle Columbia
22:54disintegrates on re-entry,
22:57killing all seven crew members.
23:03Those are my friends.
23:05You know,
23:05I knew them personally.
23:06I knew them professionally.
23:09Some of them
23:10were in my class.
23:12I miss them every day.
23:15It caused us to lose
23:17seven very incredible people.
23:20And believe me,
23:21they were incredible.
23:24This is amazing.
23:25It's really getting, uh,
23:26really bright out there.
23:27Yep.
23:28Yeah, you definitely
23:29don't want to be outside now.
23:32The Columbia disaster
23:34we later found out
23:35was due to foam
23:38shedding off of
23:39the external tank.
23:43During launch,
23:44a falling piece
23:45of insulating foam
23:47struck the shuttle's
23:48left wing,
23:49damaging the thermal
23:51protection tiles
23:52designed to shield it
23:53from extreme heat
23:54during re-entry.
23:55And what that did
23:57was that allowed
23:58a very hot plasma
23:59to get inside
24:00of the wing
24:01and basically
24:02melt the inner structure
24:04of the spacecraft.
24:08Test simulations
24:09back on the ground
24:10reveal the devastating impact
24:12of this seemingly small,
24:14briefcase-sized chunk
24:15of foam
24:16traveling at high speed.
24:22All shuttles are grounded
24:24while a full investigation
24:25is carried out,
24:26effectively halting
24:28construction of the ISS.
24:33The only way
24:35to reach the orbiting outpost
24:37is via Russian Soyuz capsules
24:39launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
24:44To conserve vital supplies
24:46like oxygen and water
24:47on the ISS,
24:49the crew is reduced
24:50from three
24:51to just two.
24:56Commander Gennady Padalka
24:58from Russia
25:00and flight engineer
25:01Mike Fink
25:02from the United States
25:03form the two-person crew
25:05of Expedition 9.
25:09I grew up in
25:10Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
25:12It's not a super wealthy city,
25:14but we have all kinds
25:15of resources for education,
25:17so I went to the planetarium,
25:19I went to the library,
25:19I learned,
25:20and I knew that I wanted
25:21to become an astronaut.
25:24I met my wife
25:26at Johnson Space Center
25:27here at NASA,
25:28and like men and women do,
25:30we fell in love,
25:31and we started a family,
25:33and I still hadn't flown yet.
25:35And then the opportunity
25:36came up.
25:39when I married him,
25:41I knew that he wanted
25:42to go into space,
25:43and so I was always
25:46going to support his dream,
25:47even though it was going
25:49to disrupt our planning
25:51for life on the ground.
25:56Mike spent eight years training
25:58before this mission,
26:00a mission scheduled
26:02to last six months.
26:05It's been his ultimate ambition,
26:08but one that involves
26:10personal sacrifice
26:11for himself
26:12and his wife,
26:13Renita.
26:17It's a girl.
26:20Boy, she sounds upset.
26:22She passed along,
26:23but we heard her
26:25all the way up here.
26:27It was about two months
26:29into his six-month mission
26:31that we had the baby.
26:32For the first time in history,
26:35an American astronaut
26:36is in space
26:37when his child is born.
26:41It will be four months
26:43before Mike returns
26:44to Earth
26:44to hold his daughter
26:46for the first time.
26:49During his absence,
26:51she will grow.
26:53But Mike's body
26:55will also undergo changes.
26:59While his new baby
27:01is developing muscles quickly,
27:03Mike's muscles
27:04will deteriorate
27:05because of microgravity.
27:09Renita and fellow
27:10biomedical engineers
27:12at Johnson Space Center
27:13research ways
27:15to overcome this challenge.
27:17As you're up there longer
27:18and using your muscles less,
27:20you're going to need
27:20to find ways
27:22to counteract
27:23all the changes
27:24that are happening.
27:26Without exercise,
27:28astronauts' muscle mass
27:29can fall by up to 50%
27:31over a six-month mission.
27:34We provide crew members
27:36with aerobic exercise
27:38as well as resistance
27:39exercise
27:39so we're able
27:41to build muscle
27:43as we're exercising
27:44so that we can make sure
27:47that everybody is fit
27:49for doing
27:49what their duties
27:50are in space.
27:54In their role
27:55as the station's caretakers,
27:57the crew must occasionally
27:58carry out physically exhausting work
28:01on the outside
28:01of the space station.
28:06For Mike and Gennady,
28:08this poses
28:09an additional challenge.
28:11Since for safety,
28:13spacewalks require
28:14two crew members.
28:16This means leaving the ISS
28:18completely unoccupied
28:20during the operation.
28:23one of our planned spacewalks
28:25was to travel
28:26to the very end
28:27of the space station,
28:29which is the very
28:30aft end of Zvezda.
28:33The plan is to install equipment
28:35in preparation
28:36for the arrival
28:37of a cargo vehicle
28:38from the European Space Agency.
28:45The two spacewalkers
28:46undertake a tightly
28:47choreographed procedure.
28:50But no matter
28:52how much they plan
28:53and practice,
28:54in space,
28:55there's always room
28:56for the unexpected.
29:00We're always asking ourselves,
29:01what's the next worst failure?
29:03What could go wrong next?
29:05We need to be able
29:06to handle those kind of things
29:07when they happen
29:08because in space,
29:09it will happen.
29:13Two hours into the spacewalk,
29:16it does.
29:20Gennady and I
29:21were just working away
29:22doing what we needed to do.
29:25But as they worked,
29:27they were inadvertently
29:28causing a problem.
29:31Our spacesuits
29:32were providing
29:33a very little bit
29:34of momentum
29:35towards pushing
29:36the space station.
29:39So we were actually
29:40pushing it
29:40to go out of orientation.
29:44The two astronauts
29:46working at one end
29:47of the station
29:48have caused
29:49the entire structure
29:50to tip.
29:52How could this happen?
29:57The stability of the ISS
29:59and its orientation
30:00or attitude
30:01should be maintained
30:03through the use
30:04of four gyroscopes.
30:07A gyroscope
30:09is a wheel or disc
30:10spinning on its axis.
30:13The heavier the disc
30:14and the faster it spins,
30:16the more stable
30:17the gyroscope.
30:20That's because
30:21a spinning disc
30:22creates momentum
30:23perpendicular
30:24to the plane
30:25of rotation,
30:26which makes it
30:27resist tipping over.
30:35Embedded in the ISS
30:37are four huge gyroscopes
30:40pointed in different directions,
30:41with 220-pound wheels
30:44spinning at over
30:45100 revolutions a second.
30:48usually enough
30:49to keep the whole station
30:51from rotating
30:52in any direction.
30:55The space station
30:56constantly experiences
30:58forces
30:58from solar winds
31:00or from the Earth's gravity.
31:03If left unchecked,
31:05they would cause
31:06the space station
31:07to tilt
31:08or tumble.
31:10The gyros
31:11counteract those movements.
31:15But they can only
31:17compensate so much.
31:22And they're already
31:23close to their limit
31:24when Mike and Gennady
31:26pushed the station
31:28out of alignment.
31:35So the space station
31:36went into a mode
31:37that said,
31:37look,
31:37I can't control
31:38myself anymore.
31:39I'm not out of control,
31:40but I'm going to go
31:41into what we call
31:42free drift.
31:43So the space station
31:44just started to drift
31:45and point up
31:46and point up.
31:49And there we are.
31:50And we looked up
31:50and we were in
31:51a very unusual attitude.
31:53and there was
31:54planet Earth
31:55was zooming below.
31:58Holding a desired
31:59orientation in space
32:01is crucial
32:02to help keep
32:02the station's
32:03solar arrays
32:04locked onto the sun.
32:07This isn't just
32:08about efficiency.
32:09It's about survival.
32:14We're completely
32:15off the grid.
32:17And in order
32:18to keep it powered,
32:19we're collecting
32:20as much solar energy
32:21as we can
32:21when we're on
32:22the light side
32:22of the planet.
32:25When the station
32:26slips into darkness
32:27for 45 minutes
32:29every orbit,
32:30solar-charged batteries
32:32become crucial
32:33for powering
32:33critical life-support
32:35systems.
32:39With the solar panels
32:41unable to charge
32:42the ISS's batteries,
32:44to conserve power,
32:46mission control
32:47turns off
32:47non-essential systems.
32:51The only way
32:52to get the space station
32:53back into the
32:54correct attitude
32:55is with the use
32:56of thrusters.
32:59Located exactly
33:00where Mike and
33:01Gennady are working.
33:08But there's a new problem.
33:12Gennady and I were working
33:13and talking to our
33:14Russian colleagues
33:15on the ground
33:15and all of a sudden
33:16it became very quiet.
33:27The power-saving protocols
33:29have inadvertently
33:30cut off all communication
33:32between the astronauts
33:33and ground control.
33:42There was no one else
33:43to give us instructions
33:44and Gennady and I said,
33:46well, what are we going to do?
33:48Mission control
33:49has a terrible dilemma.
33:52To restore attitude,
33:54they must activate
33:55the thrusters.
33:58But with no way
33:59to communicate
34:00with Gennady and Mike,
34:02flight controllers
34:02have no idea
34:03whether their astronauts
34:05are in the firing line.
34:08If a crew member
34:09was going to be moving
34:10by them,
34:10that crew member
34:11would be blasted
34:12with hot gas
34:13or contaminated
34:14because the gas
34:16that the thrusters used
34:17was extremely toxic.
34:19Extremely,
34:20extremely toxic.
34:21Deadly.
34:23We don't want to be
34:24anywhere near that action.
34:25If we were there
34:26in our spacesuits
34:27when the thrusters went off,
34:29we would experience
34:30the thrill of being melted.
34:36Suspended hundreds
34:37of miles above Earth,
34:39the two spacewalkers
34:40cling to an empty,
34:42drifting space station,
34:44unsure what to do next.
34:51As the planet turns
34:52slowly beneath them,
34:54Mike scans the horizon
34:57and spots something
34:58that provides
34:59a spark of hope
35:00against the void.
35:04We saw where we were going.
35:08We were headed over Greece
35:10and headed north and east,
35:11so we knew we were going
35:12to be over what we call
35:13a Russian ground site.
35:16After several minutes
35:17of silence,
35:22success.
35:25Roscosmos manages
35:26to reestablish
35:27backup communications.
35:29We heard Moscow.
35:30They said,
35:31hey guys,
35:32you know,
35:32the space station's
35:33not in good control.
35:34We need to reestablish control.
35:35We highly suggest,
35:37in fact,
35:37we tell you
35:38to move away
35:38from those thrusters.
35:39It's not in your interest
35:40to stay there.
35:45So we had to go
35:47hand over hand
35:47to move away
35:48from the thrusters
35:49to be safe
35:50from any plume damage
35:51or any heat
35:52that was being produced.
35:56With the pair clear,
35:58the thrusters are fired.
36:08Attitude reestablished.
36:14It was a good view.
36:15We got to look
36:16at planet Earth
36:16as we regained
36:17orientation
36:18from being pitched up
36:19all the way
36:19to being pitched down.
36:21We got the chance
36:22to just sit there
36:23and wait
36:24as the station
36:25regained its orientation.
36:30Then they said,
36:31okay,
36:31we're back
36:32to normal work.
36:32Get back out there
36:33and finish your job.
36:34Stop slacking.
36:38On October 23rd, 2004,
36:43after traveling
36:43more than 78 million miles
36:45aboard the
36:46International Space Station,
36:49Expedition 9
36:50hands over command
36:51of the outpost
36:52to the crew
36:52of Expedition 10
36:54and makes preparations
36:56to return to Earth.
37:01By the end of the mission,
37:02I was kind of missing
37:03things back
37:04on planet Earth.
37:05I was missing my family.
37:06Got bigger while I was gone.
37:07We had a baby.
37:09And I knew I had
37:10to go back home.
37:17For almost two years,
37:19ISS has been in stasis.
37:23With no way
37:24of getting new modules up,
37:25its completion relies
37:27on one crucial factor.
37:30NASA's return to flight.
37:41Less than a year
37:42after Mike's return to Earth,
37:45following an overhaul
37:46of NASA's safety practices,
37:48the Space Shuttle program
37:50is reinstated
37:51with the first assignment,
37:53a mission to the ISS.
37:57On July 26, 2005,
38:00the crew of Discovery
38:02prepares for STS-114.
38:05Okay, Alina,
38:06a long wait may be over.
38:07On behalf of the many millions
38:09of people who believe
38:10so deeply in what we do,
38:12good luck, Godspeed,
38:12and have a little fun up there.
38:13STS-114 was our return to flight
38:16after the Columbia tragedy.
38:18We had made mistakes
38:19and we were ready
38:21to fly again
38:22with the solutions
38:23to be able to show
38:24that we belonged in space
38:26and we could keep going.
38:28Okay, here we go.
38:29The fact is,
38:31we had to have the Space Shuttle
38:33to finish building
38:33the International Space Station.
38:37For Mission Specialist
38:38Wendy Lawrence,
38:40STS-114
38:41will be her first visit
38:43to the ISS
38:44and fourth
38:45and final venture
38:46into space.
38:49The flight will carry supplies
38:51to the station
38:52and prove that the shuttle program
38:54is safe enough
38:55to continue.
38:57Warren, hot dog,
38:58you're on and cleared.
38:59We're all ready to go.
39:00Warren, T-minus 10 seconds.
39:01Go for main engine start.
39:02Seven, six, five,
39:05three engines up and burning.
39:07Three.
39:14Main engines lit off,
39:16solid rocket boosters lit off.
39:19You literally feel
39:20like you're in your slingshot.
39:21You know when you're
39:22leaving the launch pad.
39:26In the wake of the Columbia disaster,
39:29NASA implements a series
39:31of new safety protocols.
39:33A redesign of the shuttle's
39:35external tank
39:36to reduce the potential
39:37for foam shedding.
39:40Installation of multiple cameras
39:42to cover the launch
39:43and check for any anomalies.
39:46And an enhanced in-orbit inspection
39:49of the shuttle
39:50using new cameras and sensors.
40:01Discovery reaches orbit
40:03apparently without issue.
40:06Flight day two for us
40:08was the initial on-orbit inspection.
40:12We used the shuttle robotic arm
40:15and the new sensor package
40:17to examine the structural integrity
40:19of the thermal protection system
40:21to see if there was any damage
40:23that may have occurred.
40:25Meanwhile, on the ground,
40:28analysts scour footage of the launch
40:30and discover several troubling incidents.
40:39A large bird hitting the shuttle's fuel tank.
40:45A small piece of thermal tile detaching.
40:51And a large section of foam
40:53falling from the external tank.
40:57Could history be repeating itself?
41:01We looked at the side of the vehicle.
41:03We looked around our nose cap area as well.
41:11Didn't see any damage.
41:12So we're like, okay.
41:13Not great to hear that foam came off.
41:17Doesn't look like it hit a critical area.
41:22The inspection isn't conclusive, though.
41:26They need a closer look.
41:29And to do that,
41:31they'll need the help of the ISS crew
41:33and a shuttle maneuver never before attempted.
41:39We came to 600 feet below the station.
41:42We basically did a backflip.
41:46Inside Discovery,
41:48Commander Eileen Collins
41:49initiates the maneuver
41:51to pitch the shuttle 360 degrees.
41:58The shuttle was performing
42:00what we called the rendezvous pitch maneuver
42:02to allow the ISS crew
42:04to take scores of high-resolution photographs.
42:09The crew on board the ISS
42:11have a window of just 93 seconds
42:14when the underside is in the sun
42:16to take high-resolution images
42:18of the shuttle's heat shield.
42:21Those were then downlinked to engineers
42:23to be able to look for any damage
42:25or misconfiguration of those tiles.
42:30As we came out of our backflip,
42:32we got to watch Space Station
42:34come up over the tail
42:36of our orbiter Discovery.
42:38And I called that our Star Wars moment.
42:41This was just so cool.
42:42It was like,
42:43here's this big spacecraft
42:44right next to mine
42:46rising up over the tail.
42:51While the shuttle crew unloads supplies
42:54onto the station,
42:55engineers on the ground
42:57pour over the images of the shuttle,
43:00searching for anything out of the ordinary.
43:07Engineers identified that there was
43:09a small piece of gap filler.
43:11What this is,
43:11is a piece of fabric
43:12that is meant to fill spaces
43:14in between the tiles on the orbiter.
43:18This gap filler had actually stuck up
43:20into the surrounding area
43:22above the outer mold line of the orbiter.
43:25So there were two of these gap fillers
43:27sticking out from in between the tiles
43:29on the underside of Discovery.
43:31Something I'd never seen before.
43:35The problem with this is
43:37as this reenters the Earth's atmosphere,
43:38this could actually cause
43:39the smooth flow to hit that gap filler
43:42and then become turbulent,
43:43which creates downstream heating
43:44and puts extra heat stress
43:46on the orbiter tiles.
43:48The flow might come back together
43:49in a way where it now becomes
43:51almost like a blowtorch
43:52and it might burn through
43:54one of the thermal protection system tiles.
43:58This could turn the shuttle
43:59into a fireball.
44:03The gap fillers protect the tiles
44:05from vibrations on launch,
44:07but are not needed for reentry.
44:10The decision was made that
44:12these two gap fillers really need to be removed
44:15before we come back for landing.
44:17One hour and ten minutes,
44:19the IMU aligned.
44:20The underside of the space shuttle orbiter
44:22was not designed to have astronauts there.
44:24There were no handholds whatsoever.
44:26Really, the only way for us
44:27to have done the gap filler removal
44:29was to have a crew member
44:30on the end of a robotic arm.
44:36I got to fly the station robotic arm
44:39for that VV-8.
44:41Steve Robinson was on the end of the arm
44:43and I flew him to where no astronaut
44:45had ever been before,
44:46on the underside of the space shuttle orbiter,
44:51beneath the belly.
44:54Once Steve locates the gap fillers,
44:56he must remove them.
44:58Our break's set.
45:00The breaks are on.
45:01Here I go.
45:10Actually, downstairs.
45:19Okay, that came out very easily,
45:21probably even less force.
45:24It looks like this big space is just cured.
45:28Tell me that.
45:33After a two-week,
45:345.8 million mile journey in space,
45:37on August 9th, 2005,
45:41Discovery sets off for home.
45:43That's why your C-circle breaker's coming back in.
45:45Okay, we did see that.
45:47Only now will the team find out
45:49if the fix worked.
45:51Discovery's altitude now is 72 miles,
45:54speed 17,000 miles per hour.
45:58And now all of a sudden,
46:00you're coming back to gravity,
46:01something you've spent virtually
46:03your entire life in.
46:05And it's not pleasant.
46:08The shuttle's immense speed
46:10as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere,
46:13superheats the air,
46:14tearing molecules apart,
46:16creating a plasma.
46:19Temperatures outside soar
46:21to a blistering 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
46:27This discovery descends into the atmosphere.
46:30It will perform a series of four banks
46:32to dissipate speed.
46:37Well past the point of no return,
46:40all the seven crew members can do now
46:42is trust that their inspection was thorough
46:45and the repair is sufficient.
46:48Discovery Houston,
46:49Energy, Ground Track,
46:51and Nav are all go.
46:53Your touchdown is 2600 at 205.
47:01Discovery copies.
47:13You say Discovery has the runway sight.
47:15Copy runway.
47:22Main gear touchdown.
47:26Nose gear touchdown.
47:29And Discovery is home.
47:33Let me tell you,
47:34when Discovery touched down on the runway,
47:35we knew that it had been a flawless re-entry profile.
47:39There was a sense of both relief
47:41and accomplishment of all the teams
47:42that had shown that we could
47:43again fly the space shuttle safely.
47:49With the shuttle program reinstated,
47:52construction of the ISS can now resume.
47:59Over the next six years,
48:0119 shuttle missions and 94 spacewalks,
48:05numerous parts and modules
48:06are bolted onto the International Space Station.
48:11Among them, Columbus,
48:13a cutting-edge science laboratory from Europe.
48:19The Japanese Kibo Laboratory,
48:22with an exterior facility
48:24to conduct Earth observation,
48:27communication,
48:27and materials science research.
48:31The Poisk Mini Research Module 2,
48:34Russia's first major edition since 2001.
48:38And the Tranquility Module,
48:41with its now world-famous
48:43observation cupola.
48:48In May 2011,
48:51the ISS is finally complete.
48:55A $150 billion space laboratory.
49:01When we humans really want to,
49:04we can take that proverbial sword
49:07and we can truly beat it into a plowshare.
49:10We can do some pretty remarkable things together,
49:13peacefully,
49:14for the benefit of all humankind.
49:19We've opened some of the secrets of the universe,
49:22all the way from science and physics
49:24to how to work together as humans,
49:27how to plan and overcome difficulties together.
49:33It was a milestone many, many, many, many people had been working to achieve its original goal,
49:41which to be a place where you could do scientific research in a very unique environment,
49:46that of microgravity.
49:50But what makes it unique also makes it perilous.
49:56In space, you are constantly at risk of dying for a multitude of reasons.
50:03Survival in space is on a knife's edge.
50:08Very quickly, you can have an out-of-control situation from a very innocuous start.
50:13I have a lot of water.
50:15Over the next 15 years,
50:17events on the ISS will test the powers of human ingenuity to its limits
50:23to keep astronauts alive
50:25and prevent the space station from breaking up.
50:29This was like riding and bucking Bronco,
50:31and we've got to make it the full eight seconds,
50:33except this time it was in orbit around the entire Earth.
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