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>> JOHN: So at the end I can
lift this up and say “John out”

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and drop it? [LAUGHTER] 
>> OFF: If you want to?

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[UPBEAT MUSIC]

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>> JOHN: Hello, I’m John
Grunsfeld, NASA astronaut.

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>> ED: And I’m Ed Rezac, EVA
engineer for the Hubble Space

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Telescope project at Goddard.
>> JOHN: Hubble is an amazing

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observatory orbiting the Earth,
it’s allowing us to unravel the

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mysteries of the Universe. But
in 1998, Hubble lost its

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gyroscopes, and it stopped
doing science.

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At the time I was
training for the third Hubble

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servicing mission. But because
all of those gyroscopes had

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failed it was a Hubble
emergency. And so NASA decided

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to split our mission in two, 
>> ED: That’s right. >> JOHN: So

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that we had Servicing Mission 3A
and sometime later there would

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be mission 3B. And on 3A our
primary job was to replace all

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of the gyros on the Hubble Space
Telescope. Now, this is what’s

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called a rate sensor unit, this
is a mockup and inside are two

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tiny gyros. Each rate sensor
unit held two gyros. So we went

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up there to replace this, and
just like all the other items on

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Hubble, it has bolts that are a
standard size and the doors open

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and close on Hubble so that we
could open the doors and go

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inside, take out the old ones,
put in the new ones and it’s

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really easy right? >> ED: No, it
isn’t easy. There’s a lot that

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has to be done and it’s gotta be
done in a very tight spot. The

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astronauts have to enter a part
of the aft shroud where the

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fixed head star trackers are and
these are very very sensitive

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instruments that help find a
target for the telescope to look

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at. In addition, there’s a lot
going on to hook up and remove

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one of these RSUs, we’ve got
cables to disconnect and the

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three bolts that John pointed
out. So, it’s a tough spot. 

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>> JOHN: This was one of the
hardest things I did on the

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Hubble Space Telescope, and I
can tell you it was a very dark

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and scary place in there. Not
because space is dark and scary,

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but because we were told if we
bonked into the star trackers or

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we hit the side of the
telescope, we could break the

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Hubble. And rule number one was
don’t break the Hubble. 

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>> ED: Don’t break the
telescope. >> JOHN: Yep.

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>> ED: And the astronaut had to
enter on your back, and the,

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let's see, Steve held you by the
feet didn’t he? >> JOHN: I, I

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inserted Steve- >>ED: That’s
right! >> JOHN: who’s six feet

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two into the telescope and >>ED:
Those long arms came in handy

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>>JOHN: Yep! >> ED: cause he’s
gotta reach up over his head and

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between the fixed head star
trackers to access the cable

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disconnects and to get a socket
on these bolt heads. >> JOHN: So

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it was tough! But we were
successful on that mission. We

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also put in a new fine guidance
sensor, we changed out one of

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the transmitters, we put in a
solid-state recorder

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>> ED: Upgraded the computer.
>> JOHN: Yep! And we also put

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some new installation on the
outside of the telescope

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to keep Hubble
cool. >> ED: Hubble is cool!

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JOHN: Hubble is very cool! Now
one of the things I learned on

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that mission from you, and from
doing the rate sensor unit swap

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is that it is a really hard task
to be inserted up in there.

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>> ED: The neat thing about
doing the

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multiple servicing missions
is that we learn

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from each one.
>> JOHN: And on the most recent

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Hubble servicing mission in
2009, we also had to replace the

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gyros, cause they wear out.
>> ED: John was faced with doing

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the same task again, and he came
up with kind of a novel way to

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uh make the task easier. 
>> JOHN: I was thinking, you

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know, it’s really hard to get
into that spot to replace these,

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wouldn’t it be great if you had
a super long arm that you could

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reach in and grab the gyro to
take it out? So I went to the

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hardware store and I got one of
those pick sticks that allow you

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to grab cans off a high shelf,
and I brought it into the

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neutral buoyancy laboratory one
day and we put that pick stick

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into the water to see if we
could reach the gyro and we

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could. Now that was a 20 buck
pick stick, and because of that

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it inspired a new tool. >> ED:
It did, and, that was, I call

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those “pet rock moments” cause
you see something and you go

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[SMACK] well why didn’t I think
of that! But it was a beautiful

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idea, so we took the concept and
we built the RSU changeout tool.

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We used it, it came in handy for
the last servicing mission in

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2009. >> JOHN: Want to
demonstrate? >> ED: Absolutely!

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>> JOHN: So this is the handrail
I had to grab that was so hard,

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but now.  [RSU TOOL CLACKS] 
>> ED: Lock it on. >> JOHN: To

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reach into the telescope and
grab it. >> ED: Pretty sweet. 

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>> JOHN: So that’s how we
develop new tools sometimes,

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simple idea and a hard task,
make it easier. >> ED: It works!

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>> JOHN: Thanks
Ed. >> ED: Thanks John.

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[UPBEAT MUSIC]

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[SILENCE]

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JOHN: Hello, I’m John Grunsfeld,
NASA astronaut. >> ED: I’m Frank

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Cepollina and I’ll never retire.
[SOFT LAUGHTER] >> OFF: Should

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we do that one over? >> JOHN:
Yep. >> ED: Start over. 

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>> JOHN: Hello, I’m Edwin
Hubble, a deceased astronomer.

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[UPBEAT MUSIC]

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>> JOHN: Got that
out of your system? >> ED: I

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did, I’m good. [LAUGHTER]
>> JOHN: How’s that >> ED: You

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started it! [LAUGHTER] >> JOHN:
How’s that feel? [LAUGHTER]