The wrist joint was drawing power but not moving.
That was the problem with Canadarm2 in late May. It just stopped working right when the crew needed it to move things around the station.
So NASA sent two people out to fix it. Chris Williams and Jessica Meir spent seven hours and twenty minutes Tuesday. They were fixing the robot’s broken joint outside the International Space Station (ISS). The whole thing happened just in time for Canada Day. Timing.
The arm is old. Really old. Installed in 2001, that 18-meter metal beast has been holding the station together for over a decade and a half.
“Whether it is performing maintenance… catching cargo vehicles or helping us… the arm has played an essential role”
Williams said it as they packed up. He didn’t mince words. It is a workhorse. And without it, life up there gets hard.
The repair itself wasn’t complicated. Just heavy and awkward. They switched their suits to battery power around 8:20 a.m. and floated out of the Quest airlock. They grabbed a power tool. Unbolted a spare part. Swapped it in.
No drama. Just torque specs and floating in a void.
They pulled the broken part out and installed number 5. Then they hauled the bad one inside. Someone back on Earth gets to take it apart and figure out what broke. A bolt? A wire? Doesn’t matter right now. The new joint is locked down.
“Just in time for Canada Day”
Meir was thrilled. The repair wrapped up at 3:40 p.m. That means the celebration started at the same time.
It was the fourth time humans have serviced that specific arm. They’ve changed its hands before. Now they gave it a new elbow. Well. A wrist. Whatever you call that middle joint.
Jack Hathaway and Sophie Adenot stayed inside to help. They helped get the suits on. They moved the arm into place for the repair. It’s a team effort. Always has been.
Williams is on his second EVA. He has about 14 hours under his belt now. Meir is the veteran here. Fifth time out. She logged 36 hours. Remember the first all-female spacewalk? She did that. In 2019.
This was number 280. Since 1998, that is how many times astronauts have floated outside to bolt something onto the ISS.
The arm is moving again.
International cooperation looks good from out there. The U.S. crew fixed a Canadian machine. Everyone is happy.
So. The robot arm is whole again.
What breaks next?
