Of pinholes and vacuums.

I've been following the shuttle trip as it is docked at the International Space Station, or ISS for short.  Today, I thought it would have been apt to rename the thing ISH!  As in,  "Ish, what are they thinking."

Just a couple of thoughts and I'll let you go.  First off, the team on ISS has been joined by the shuttle crew plus a new humanoid robot.  The humans will leave eventually.  The robot will remain on the station.  There's just the one part that really bothers me.  I mean, other than having a robot in outer space.  Didn't 2001 A Space Odyssey teach us anything.  Doesn't anybody remember H.A.L.?  Open the Pod Bay Doors, H.A.L.? 

But I digress.  Aside from all that angst, it turns out that this particular  robot has no legs.  In order for it - him - her -whatever... to remain upright, the team had to mount it on a pedestal.  I'm sure it's interesting to talk to a robot that can't do anything like move around.  The legs will be brought up on another mission and then joined to the top part of the robot.  At that point I'd have to wonder if the robot programming included the Prime Directive - "Do Nothing to Cause Harm to a Human."   What if the crew tells the robot to dump the trash and it tries to open the outside door. 

The second thing that gave me a jolt about this mission is the second planned space walk.  The first walk went pretty well until the robot arm stopped with an astronaut aboard.  There was a glitch in the program and the crew on the station changed to another controller and finished the task.  I read in the online news that the second space walk was delayed.  There was a hole in a space suit.  It had to be repaired before the walk could start.

Okay, my question is, how do you repair a hole in a suit that has to be pressurized and function in a vacuum.  Is it like an inner tube patch?  Do you just slap on a piece of duct tape?  What exactly is the protocol.  And if you do manage to patch the hole - which one of us is going to put on this suit with a hole and step outside into cold airless space.  Not me, for sure.  I read science fiction.  I know about the dangers of exposing even a centimeter of skin to what is on the outside of the suit.  I don't care how much the manufacturer promises the patch kit will hold under extreme conditions. 

It's like a famous attorney might say.........

If the suit might blow,
This girl don't go!

That's my theory.