I see this kind of problem all the time.

[recyclebinned]

I see this kind of problem all the time when I work on almost anything. This is what happens when you have engineers graduate without ever holding a screwdriver in their hands.

[DerbyDad03]

What in that article points to the engineers as being at fault?

As I read it, the possibility exists that whoever first installed the power pack may have stripped the bolt hole resulting in a cross threaded bolt the next it was used. Note the metal shavings they found when they uninstalled the old one.

I recently broke a bolt on my trailer hitch because I screwed up the hole when I tried to clean it with a tap. When I tried to install the bolt it cross threaded and eventually snapped. It was operator error, not an engineering issue.

[trader4]

Nothing.

Sounds logical.

It could be an engineering issue, IF they specified the wrong bolt, the wrong thread, etc. But as you point out, nothing in the article suggests that at all. And it seems far more likely that it could be something else, ie cross threaded, parts were not machined so they aligned right, making cross threading more likely, etc.

[nestork]

That's the problem with astronauts. They're good at the book learning, but when it comes to actually fixing something, they ain't worth a dog $#^+.

Seriously, this is a learning experience. It's encountering problems like this, figuring out what went wrong, and doing it a different way next time so that doesn't happen again that makes for better designs in the future. Bad enough this is happening 100 miles above the Earth, but it'd be game over if it was happening on Mars.

And, truth be told, each of those tiny metal shavings that were blown away with compressed nitrogen is now travelling through space at phenomenal speed and threatening all the weather, communications and spy satellites up there.

[User]

I also see stupid idiots and their bizarre usenet posting styles all the time.

[User]

The station, a $100-billion project of 15 countries, is an orbiting laboratory used for medical and basic science experiments, microgravity research and technology development. =========

Has any scientific papers ever been published in peer-reviewed medical (or other non-engineering) journals based on experiments conducted on the ISS?

How would you search medline for or scirus for such papers? Look for "ISS" or "International Space Station" in the author-affiliation? I see only 9 such papers on scirus, with 8 of them appearing to be more editorial or informational than scientific.

[Dave M.]

Yes, here's the very first article published out of the ISS. It came out in 2004.

Look for micro-gravity or other relevant term? That certainly works with medline.

Dave M.

[Stormin Mormon]

Pretty Tight Right Margin?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

I also see stupid idiots and their bizarre usenet posting styles all the time.

[Don Phillipson]

Perhaps that is why Apollo XIII never came back.

[krw]

... or top posting.