Ever wondered what tools they pack on the International Space Station? Astronaut Tim Peake shared some ISS toolboxes on his Flickr page and kindly said we could post one of his pics. What do you think?
18 thoughts on “Space Station Toolbox”
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CLASS III — for when it needs a bit of persuading. A large hammer, prybar and wrench. Pretty much all you need, right there. :-)
(except, of course, for a replacement bolt for the one you stripped — no Lowes nearby)
I love this – you almost expect to see hydrospanners and sonic-screwdrivers, maybe a tricorder for debugging; but a big orange hammer, a pipe wrench and a crowbar – that’s just awesome.
I am so glad the tape measure is metric – our system of measurement is really the only embarrassing thing about being American.
Metric, Imperial, Smoots. Who cares, so long as you can agree on units? I am not the least bit embarrassed to use traditional human-centered units of measure.
You are also not a scientist in an international laboratory expected to conform to set standards; or maybe you are, and in that case I apologize.
Anyone else nervous about the thought of using a file to produce fine dust in a zero-gravity environment?
Does anyone have a good source for these foam shapes? I want to organize my tools like this. Just too cool.
Moritz,
You can make them yourself with a foamcutter, and high density foam.
They make look like ordinary tools, but they aren’t. The hammer is hollow and filled with buckshot. That compensates for microgravity – otherwise when you hit something with an ordinary hammer you’d fly backwards with the same inertia. The crowbar is made from beryllium-copper to prevent sparking. Those are the two most obvious differences I can think of. But some of the tools are ordinary tools with the addition of a Velcro tab to permit them to be temporarily put aside without floating off.
Awesome that they use SNAP-ON tools — and that they are the older versions of the handle ( one of the best in my opinion) as far as the hammer — i looks like one of the ordinary issue snap-on ball peen — same as mine i use almost every day!!! great stuff — id love to have the drawer full of the sockets torque wrenches and socket wrenches — or at least the layout of it !!!
awesome!!