X-33 Repair in Microgravity

Astronaut Don Pettit repairs his Omega Speedmaster Professional X-33 aboard the International Space Station, Nov 2002-May 2003.

 

 

This video was taken in orbit aboard the International Space Station by Astronaut Don Pettit during the Expedition 6 mission on the ISS, Nov. 23, 2002 to May 3, 2003. During the mission Pettit logged 161 days in space, including over 13 EVA hours during the 5-1/2 months aboard the ISS.

In free time aboard the ISS (and indeed, there was a lot of free time after the Columbia disaster when shuttle flights were suspended) Pettit filmed a series of informal experiments and demonstrations about living and working in space the astronauts called "Saturday Morning Science," as they were typically afforded a few hours of unstructured time on Saturday mornings aboard the ISS. This video was meant to demonstrate that fine motor work in space is still very possible with some special planning and adaptation for the low-gravity environment. The improvisation of a piece of 100-mph tape for a watchmaker's bench is certainly clever, though it's quite certain that Pettit was more than used to dealing with this problem by this point. His watchmaker's tools: "We always use the right tool for the job, which on the frontier is any tool you can find that you can use to get the job done." He makes it look easy, as if it's the sort of thing he does in zero-gravity all the time. And indeed, many watchmakers might be jealous of parts not dropping.

Pettit's X-33 is an interesting example. From the crown and caseback designs it appears to be a Gen 1 X-33, which would seem odd as the Gen 2 had already been released on the retail market more than a year previously. What seems like it might be a custom caseback design is probably just be air bubbles trapped under a plastic backing.

The bezel design is especially unusual with its matte finish and light-colored (luminous?) numbers. Omega is previously known to have sent prototypes for real-world testing on missions. Perhaps this is such an experimental prototype design, though given what seems to be Pettit's considerable handiness with tools around watches it might well have been a custom modification as well.

The particular faults Pettit repairs are the crown coming out and "Popping Pusher
faults, described further in the problems chapter of my X-33 Article. It's interesting to notice that despite the narration that seems to indicate to the contrary, it seems Dr. Pettit wasn't able to successfully reinstall the crown. Apparently the source of the crown failure is frequently a failed crown detent spring, the repair of which may have required a part that was of course unavailable.

See my X-33 Article as well for more information about the Omega Speedmaster Professional X-33.

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