Plenty of people might look at this and think that it’s not such a big deal for people that are trained to do this type of thing. But the reality of it is that in an environment where speed is possible but not desired, especially with the delicate instruments and materials that are being handled, time is a precious commodity that can’t be wasted. When putting the solar arrays into place on the International Space Station, there are windows of time that need to be taken, but the safety of the astronauts is important as well, and through the timelapse video below one can get at least a small idea of what these individuals go through and what kind of precautions they have to take when it comes to getting the job done. This isn’t like replacing solar panels on the ground, nor is it even comparable to doing something hundreds of feet in the air. This is space, that vast area far beyond anything that many people know, and one slip here could be extremely bad. But that’s why people train and are put through one physical test after another.
It’s not just that either, these people are no doubt under a great deal of emotional and psychological stress as well since they’re thousands upon thousands of miles away from their loved ones and are completely out of their element in terms of their environment. They’re likely in their element when it comes to what they’re doing and what they know of the process, but when surrounded by an environment that won’t be a single bit forgiving of a slip-up, that has to take a toll on a person since like it or not, it’s not bound to help them out in any way. That might sound like a bit of doom and gloom, but the reality is that space, from what has been told to the lot of us, is not capable of sustaining life without the suits that these people wear, which means that yes, it is a very inhospitable environment.
But watching it is pretty interesting to be honest since as mundane and as technical as this likely gets, the perspective that timelapse gives is still enough to make it obvious that these folks have a set amount of time in which to perform each task so as to follow safety protocols and keep everyone as secure as possible. Working in space is likely a hazardous situation since things can go wrong even if no one wants to think about them. The very idea of having to work this slowly as a rule and to keep things as calm and measured as possible likely appeals to some people, but it’s an absolute necessity in this situation since otherwise, it’s likely that one of the solar arrays could go floating away, or possibly break, or cause all kinds of problems if they’re mishandled. Of course, I know nothing about space apart from the videos and pictures that are sent over the internet, but seeing what’s there is enough to intuit at times that things could go badly very quickly if not for the training each person receives and the dedication to their task.
Hollywood does tend to give us a lot of movies and TV shows that have to do with space and the things that can and do go wrong on various missions, but the funny thing is that many astronauts would look at such projects and laugh as they point out what would happen and what wouldn’t and what’s impossible outside of a movie set. At some point, it feels as though the movies are going to go for a little more realism and place actual actors in space, especially since Tom Cruise is hell-bent on doing something of this nature. Heck, Richard Branson already made it into space and it sounds as though Elon Musk is set on going as well, so it’s not too hard to believe that space is about to become the next frontier that people want to explore and possibly exploit. At one point the kind of work being done in the video above might become commonplace and require only the training it takes to operate in space rather than a lifetime of training to get there.
Those days are likely far off if they’re even bound to get here eventually. For now, it’s impressive enough to watch videos like this and be amazed at what happens and what goes on with the tasks that those on the ISS might feel are common and needed, but are amazing and even astounding to the rest of the world. Space is definitely a big place when seen from this viewpoint, and it’s very likely that humans won’t be dominating it anytime soon.
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