Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Space

The still life of space tools

By Jessica Griggs

26 August 2009

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Can we fix it? See more of Soluri’s images in our gallery: Don’t drop it! Inside an astronaut’s tool bag

(Image: © )

Gallery: Don’t drop it! Inside an astronaut’s tool bag

REPAIR or replace? In these frugal times, you would think the answer would always be a resounding repair. But surprisingly, until the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope last May, any instrument that failed on board was simply replaced. When two essential imaging instruments stopped working in the period running up to the mission, however, the crew decided a more sustainable approach was needed.

This was…

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