NASA robotic gas station successfully installed — our Jetsonian dreams (almost) fulfilled

So we can’t be zipping around with wife and children in a flying car anytime soon, but NASA brought us ever in the direction of a Jetsonian future, yesterday, with the installation of its Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment. Fifteen minutes into their spacewalk, Mike Fossum and Ron Garan successfully installed the best hardware at the International Space Station for pumping fuel to satellites in space. Using the Canadian-born Dextre (aka Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator) as a gas station attendant, the RRM will eventually be used to refuel and perform minor repairs to satellites in orbit, potentially extending the time they could stay aloft. Now that that’s underway, how ’bout y’all get to work on making Rosie a reality?

Source

This post is tagged: fifteen minutes, gas station attendant, international space station, manipulator, satellites in space, special purpose