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>> ED: We completely shut it all
the way down. >> JOHN: Yep, that

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scared a lot of people, they
were afraid when, you know, you

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turn off the Hubble it might not
come back up. 

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[UPBEAT MUSIC]

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

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

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Telescope project.

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>> JOHN: The Hubble is our
premiere observatory orbiting

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the Earth 300 miles above the
surface, unraveling the

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mysteries of the universe. Now
Hubble has done that for almost

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30 years, because we did five
missions to upgrade and service

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the telescope. Now in 2002, we
did a mission that that repaired

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some instruments, but also
worked on the power system.

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>> ED: That’s right. >> JOHN:
That was really important

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because there were 
indications the power

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system might be failing.
>> ED: It was the first time

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since the Hubble launched in
1990 that we

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completely shut it all the way
down. >> JOHN: Yep, that scared

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a lot of people there, afraid
when, you know, you turn off the

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Hubble it might not come back
up. But fortunately, it worked

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great. We spent a lot of time
figuring out how are we possibly

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gonna remove the main switch box
for Hubble? Where all the power

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goes through, 36 big connectors,
all while the Hubble is turned

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off and starting to get cold.
You know, it’s cold in space,

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Hubble could freeze. >> ED: All
the connectors, by the way, on

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the left side of the instrument.
So we had to find a left handed

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astronaut to do the work. 
>> JOHN: Now where would you

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find a left-handed astronaut? So
I’m left handed, but pretty

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ambidextrous, most space-walkers
are pretty ambidextrous. Now I’m

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wearing these gloves because
these are gloves kind of like

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the spacewalking gloves that we
wear. So we have to build tools

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that have features that allow
you to use them in the

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spacesuit. And just grabbing the
connectors, we weren’t sure

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that, one, I could even get my
fingers between all of the

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connectors cause there were so
many. And also, it was really

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hard to reach them because of
all the cables coming out. So we

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had a tough time coming up with
ideas, and I remember

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discussions with your boss,
Frank Cepollina, the big tool

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inventor, of building motorized
tools. Now we have motorized

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tools right? >> ED: We do, we
do. Like the PGT. >> JOHN: The

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Pistol Grip Tool. >> ED: True!
>> JOHN: Yep, that’s our power

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screwdriver to loosen bolts,
tighten bolts. >> ED: But it

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wasn’t going to do us much good
to reach in and turn those

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electrical connectors. >> JOHN:
Nope. So we looked at what was

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available for doing avionics,
for repairing airplanes, and

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they had connector tools that
were kind of like pliers. And we

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tried those in the training, but
they just didn’t have enough

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grip and they were really hard
to use because you had to kind

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of do it two-handed to be able
to hold it. >> ED: So we had to

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come up with a tool that would
allow John to move those

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connectors or release those
connectors while wearing those

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spacesuit gloves. >> JOHN: Now
sometimes we come up with

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complex tools to solve the
problem using computer chips and

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motors and batteries. In this
case, we came up with the high

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torque, PCU, Power Control Unit
Connector Tool, and it’s really

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simple. This is actually my
favorite [ED LAUGHS] Hubble

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tool, 1. Because it worked
great, and 2. Because it’s very

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simple. It allowed me, in my
gloved hand, to hold the tool,

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my left hand. Grab a connector
and rotate it to take it off and

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rotate it back when we had the
new unit to put it on. And of

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course, if I let go of the tool
it would float off into space,

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so I’d have a little ring so I
could put a little hook on it

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and it was attached to me with a
spring, so if I let go of it it

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would go [SHWOOP SOUND] back.
>> ED: So even though it’s a

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relatively simple tool, a lot
went into it, [TOOL SQUEEKS]

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into the design [TOOL SQUEEKS]
to make sure it was astronaut

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friendly. You’ve got the
extra-long handles, the tether

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loop as John pointed out to
maintain control of it, [TOOL

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SQUEEKS] and then of course the
silicone to really give a good

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grip on the back shells of the
connectors. >> JOHN: Yep, the

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silicone pads were great because
they’d give a little bit, so

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when I grabbed the connector I
could squeeze really hard to

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make sure that it didn’t slip
cause that would be bad. So we

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changed out 36 of these big
connectors with heavy duty

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wires, took out the old failed
unit, put in the new one, put

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the new connectors on, turned
the power back on Hubble, and

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fortunately it all came back to
life. >> ED: Yes. 

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>> JOHN: Thanks for the great
tool.

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>> ED: Thanks for using it!

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[UPBEAT MUSIC]

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[SILENCE]

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>> JOHN: Got that zoom
focus in there? >> OFF: Uh huh.

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>> JOHN: Want to make sure it’s
in focus. >> OFF: It is. Totally

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is. >> OFF: It’s his favorite.
>> JOHN: It is my favorite.

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[UPBEAT MUSIC]

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>> JOHN: That's right. For the
sequel. >>ED: For the sequel?

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Okay. >>JOHN: Yeah. Second 
season. [LAUGHTER]