Great Scott!

In a world full of bad news – with the environment kicking people’s asses up and down the globe – let’s look upward and offer a round of applause to astronaut Scott Parazynski, who successfully repaired a critical tear in the International Space Station‘s solar array today during a seven-hour space walk.

Parazynski was working at the end of a boom, and had to cut away a snarled guidewire, install five suture-like braces, and then wait while the crew on board the ISS extended the array its full 110-foot length. If the repairs had not been successful then attachment of the space shuttle Columbus to the ISS next month would not have been possible, and it would have delayed the installation of the Japanese research modules to the ISS, which are scheduled for launch early next year.

Good job!