An Astronaut's Tool Kit

An Astronaut’s Tool Kit !

Posted by Space Boy On October - 25 - 2009

	Pistol Grip Tool (PGT) Also called the ‘Washer Extraction Tool’, this is the most profusely used tool by the Astronaut of the 21st century, which is designed for use in the thick-gloved hands of spacewalkers, it features a pistol-style handle and large information screen. Its flower-like head is designed to be easily gripped by a gloved hand, and the ring at the bottom allows it to be tethered to a spacesuit when not in use.This tool was first created for NASA’s Hubble mission tweaks to be done on a periodical basis.
	Mini Power Tool This is a smaller and a faster tool, a replacement for the PGT with less torque (The mini power tool spins at 210 revolutions per minute, as opposed to the PGT’s 15). This tool was designed to remove the screws from the casing of the damaged spectrograph in the Hubble Space Telescope which had 111 screws
	EVA Piston Grip Tool This version of PGT is designed mainly for undoing the bolts, which is a workhorse tool of spacewalk, it has a microprocessor to control its torque and speed thius making it the most complex and costlier of the tools in the kitty. It has proved its mettle in the last three hubble missions and is a standard tool of International Space Station (ISS) crew expeditions
	Grid Cutter Tool All electronic instruments used in space are shielded with an electromagnetic interference protection grid to protect it from the cosmic rays, so if the spacewalk needs any work on these one has got to cut this grid to access the electronics within - where in this tools, the Grid Cutter Tool comes in handy.
	Portable foot restraint As its name implies, it is decades old tool used by spacewalkers as a foot-rest, clinging on to the footholds present outside the space station or telescope. This may seem like a simple tool but this is the most important one tat prevents the spacewalking astraonauts from drifting in space, giving them a steady support for doing their chores.