About 10 years ago, everyone got to take a peek inside NASA’s International Space Station toolbox, thanks to British Astronaut Tim Peak’s photos of his training towards a future mission.
Now, we have another look at the ISS tool box, thanks to astronaut Matthew Dominick, who is currently aboard the space station. Dominick is on a 6-month mission as part of NASA Expedition 71.
Dominick showed off the ISS tool box for NASA’s Space to Ground series, and you can tell he’s a bit tickled by its organization.
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It seems to me that he’s geeking out over the tool box a bit, just like most of us would.
The video clip is fairly short – check it out when you can.
The tools jingling around like a wind chime seems pretty cool.
Also, note that they’ve still got a 10mm socket. If they’re not losing sockets in that kind of environment, where tools can literally float away from the user, what excuses do the rest of us have?
See Also: A Look at the Tools Inside a Space Station Tool Box
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Joellikestools
The chiming is so satisfying.
mark
Lol I took that 10mm comment personally 😂
Grokew
The poor thing almost got launched across the space station. 😂
Nathan
Indeed
So many questions. Who makes the tools? What exactly is in the kit? Is it all metric? I would think so.
Interesting. And yes you always power slide. Just like apexing.
Shanman
Most likely the tool maker is snap-on. they had the NASA contract for years. they made all the tools and all the specialty torque tools for the space shuttle program.
Stuart
That’s a question for Nate/Doresoom. https://www.youtube.com/@DoresoomReviews/videos
Tony
After downloading and then enlarging some of the pictures, I could see the words: “Snap-On”, “Craftsman”, “Lufkin”, and “DMC” on some of the tools. Not enough picture resolution to make out everything, though.
Robert
So true about the 10 mm tools.
RT
Robogrip pliers? Who decided that? Really NASA? So many better options. Knipex, even Channellock…
Stuart
There might have been manufacturing origin considerations.
Richard
Robogrip pliers are devisive. I remember loving my dad’s set back in the day, they were one of the best tools in his box. Not a substitute for a socket or correct size wrench, but very versatile and easy to use. I’ve got knipex and wiha in many flavors now and would gladly add a robogrip to the lineup if I could pay 1990’s sears prices for one.
> manufacturing origin
Notably the space station modules themselves come from many different countries of origin.
One question I had though. The last giant one he says is 2-1/2” which seems odd. I would have thought everything was metric and standardized. Maybe he misspoke?
Grokew
Not necessarily. Maybe it is for some “plumbing” fixture? I think that’s a Snap on SCO80
MM
I generally despise auto-adjusting or “all in one” sorts of tools but I have found Robogrips to be a rare exception. The pliers drawer in my box is mostly Knipex, but every once in a while there is some job where Robogrips excel and I don’t want to be without a pair. I’ve replaced mine twice over the years when they’ve grown legs and walked off, and if I lost my current pair today I’d head straight over to Ebay to find a replacement.
eddiesky
Wow, I still have my Robogrips and the protective covers (golden color) in original package. (I mean the covers are still in the bags, the pliers, I used from time to time. But my Knipex are the go-to now and the Kobalt and old Irwin pliers went to metal recycler).
Mnoswad
Thanks Stu for this kind of post. Only would’ve seen it here.
Nathan
Do y’all not know where your 10mm stuff is?
Meanwhile did he mean combination wrenches when he was saying crescent wrench?
Grokew
There was an adjustable wrench to one side, but he did keep looking at the combination wrenches when saying crescent.
Bob
Thanks, that is so cool.
Shanman
He only showed us what was in one module. notice there are three more modules around that one. I want to know what’s in them now.
Stuart
Astronaut Tim Peak still has his photos up – https://www.flickr.com/photos/timpeake/albums/72157634315750824/
Tony
Very cool. Where was the duct tape? You can’t launch without having a few rolls onboard. 🙂
Stuart
I’d say that’s more a supply item than a hand tool.
Koko The Talking Ape
Yep. More than one launch was scrubbed for lack of duct tape.
Doresoom
NASA’s OpNom for it is “Gray Tape” and don’t worry – they’ve got plenty onboard!
Kapton tape is also widely used.
Dave
If I lay on the ground in front of my tool box and open the drawers I can pretend I am in space also!…lol
MT_Noob
I like the fact that it looked like wire strippers and some sort of pliers or maybe crimpers were also missing (probably in use somewhere else). I’d imagine on the space station that those would be in fact mission critical. Thanks for the great link Stuart.
_NAPA_Squad
I had a gmtk from kipper mainly sk and sold it for the Armstrong gmtk. If he likes the ev foam he could look into it. Pelican 450 case and all. I’ve noticed a lot of tool manufacturers are starting to offer tools in foam treys instead of plastic ones.
NoDak Farming
I’ve seen some of those military surplus Pelican 450 tool kits show up on large “auction house” consignment sales. The ones I’ve seen have mostly lived a hard life and have tools missing and broken drawers. But it is neat how dense they are able to organize the tools with the foam inserts. I think I noticed Proto tools in those that I’ve had a chance to see. And now that we are discussing them, I’ll have to start paying attention to how much they sell for at the nearby sales.
_NAPA_Squad
I bought mine off eBay. It was about 90% completed. It was missing a 1/2 wrench, a couple of 1/2 locking extensions and some screwdrivers. You definitely have to weed through them. It looks like they buy a pallet at a time and just list them. All the Armstrong wrenchs are labeled A&E. Apparently it’s the coating that NASA approved.
Nathan
Wonder if there is a EU tool set for the EU sections? Or if NASA pointed to previous history and the aerospace standards and said all sae? For fittings and bolts etc but metric for stress design and structure and wiring…..
Ben
This was pretty cool and a fun read and watch. Thanks Stuart!
Another Bob
Somebody chime in if I’m wrong but I think at one point Dewalt had a contract for battery tools. They were definitely yellow but they could’ve also been Stanley industrial. They are the ones that predated the 18v NiCad platform. I remember seeing a then current picture in the mid-2000s of an astronaut using them I was like “damn those are old even back then.”
I wonder if they were off the shelf SBD tools or they were beefed up for space exploration?
Once you get speced in then there’s a long life cycle with those projects. Hell they might still be using them. NiCad being safer than some lithium chemistry.
evadman
I wish I could powerslide into my toolbox.
_NAPA_Squad
You could, it might hurt 😂
Mike D
My personal favorite is the outreach and disaster recovery mobile shop. I got to see one of the four mobile machine shops at the local First Robotics competition.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/nasa-armstrong-obtains-fabrication-shop-on-wheels/
Plain+grainy
Does that file have a Tang?