Question

3. During a space mission, an astromedic (Fig. 3) trying to rescue an unconscious astronaut accidentally ran his manuevering unit out of propellant. At that moment, the two men were separated by a taut cable of 200 m and were not moving relative to the spacecraft positioned 80 m away from the center of the tether. Write: (in at least a couple of complete English sentences) what the astromedic should do to remedy the situation

Answer 1

If an astronaut floats away more or less at a right angle from the station's orbit, orbital dynamics (too much math to explain here) dictate that he would float back toward the station in about an hour.
But since he is neither at a normal position to the spacecraft nor does he have any propulsive power to make it to safety,
The best course would be to take a deep breath and sigh!
A sigh of optimism because he is not drifting away .And therefore hope for somebody from the spacecraft crew would come to rescue them both.There's nothing he can do from out there anyway!
So why burn more oxygen by stressing out on something you cannot control. Since the oxygen in the suit lasts for an average 7.5hrs in space. He should try not to burn it any earlier and die of asphyxiation. He can also drink the 1 litre water from the sipper built into the suit. The more time he holds his consciousness,the better chances he has to reach the spacecraft alive than dead. There's also the necessity to wave back at the rescuer who waves at you to check if you are awake and alive because there's also a huge risk involved on their part and they might not want to do it over person who is already DEAD.
So if there's any time someone needs to show his persistence ,it is now,the persistence to live the day ,for tomorrow you can tell the tale.

Courtesy:Interview of Jim Obergy who worked in NASA at the space shuttle mission control station for 22 years.

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