Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Hillary Clinton Just Perfectly Trolled NASA After They Announced Their All-Female Space Walk Will Not Be All-Female After All

Hillary Clinton Just Perfectly Trolled NASA After They Announced Their All-Female Space Walk Will Not Be All-Female After All
Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images // NASA.gov

Well said.

NASA scuttled its plans for its first all-female spacewalk because the agency doesn’t have enough spacesuits that fit the astronauts, forcing one of the two women on the mission, Anne McClain, to give up her spot to a male colleague. McClain, NASA said, thought a large-sized suit would be fine but after a spacewalk last week discovered that the medium-sized was a better fit.

“Anne trained in ‘M’ and ‘L’ and thought she could use a large but decided after [last] Friday’s spacewalk a medium fits better,” a Nasa spokeswoman, Stephanie Schierholz, said yesterday. NASA would stay on schedule because "it's safer and faster to change spacewalker assignments than reconfigure spacesuits."


The news quickly took social media by storm, but Hillary Clinton needed just three short words to explain why forcing McClain to give up her spot made no sense.

"Make another suit," she said.

Others concurred. It's just plain old common sense, right?

The answer might not be so simple, though. Ars Technica's senior space editor Eric Berger wrote in a piece that while the change of plans is "unfortunate," it's ultimately the "right" decision:

It really was a "fit" issue in regard to spacesuits. After her EVA (extravehicular activity) last Friday in a "large" spacesuit, McClain realized she would be better able to work in a suit with a medium-sized torso. The torso is a fiber-glass shell, and if it is not snug it is difficult to maneuver the suit and reach control dials on the front. (Spacesuits sometimes fit differently in microgravity than in ground tests).

NASA has four spacesuits on the International Space Station, according to Jacklyn Kagey, lead officer for the upcoming spacewalk. Two of those suits are medium-sized, but only one is presently configured for a spacewalk (making the second one ready would require about 12 hours of work). Since Koch also uses a medium-sized suit, NASA planners decided the safest decision was to have Koch proceed in the medium suit and Hague participate in a larger suit.

He also provided further insight into NASA's "spacesuit problem":

NASA does have a spacesuit problem. A 2017 report by the agency's inspector general catalogued some of these issues. Notably, the agency's current stock of spacesuits were designed in 1974 and were first flown in 1981. "Designed for the Space Shuttle Program, each EMU has been partially redesigned and completely refurbished multiple times over the last 40 years," the report stated.

Of the 18 spacesuits originally produced, 11 remain in service. Those suits are rotated up to the station, and down, and are serviced on the ground. NASA performs maintenance on each suit after six years on the station, or 25 EVAs, whichever comes first. "We have a sustaining plan that gets us out through the remainder of the program with these particular suits," Todd said.

The 2017 report criticized the agency's efforts to develop a "next generation" of spacesuits that would be needed for activities at the Lunar Gateway, in orbit around the Moon, on the Moon, or on Mars. Part of the problem is that the destination for NASA's crewed programs has changed at least three times since 2005, and there have also been issues with stewardship. As a result, the report found, "The agency remains years away from having a flight-ready spacesuit ... suitable for use on future exploration missions."

This information aside, the announcement has continued to be criticized by high profile figures who say NASA should have foreseen the trouble.

McClain and Christina Koch were set to make history as the first all-female crew aboard the International Space Station to conduct a spacewalk to install lithium-ion batteries for one pair of the station's solar arrays. Koch will instead be joined by their male colleague, Nick Hague.

The all-female spacewalk was to be part of a series of three spacewalks to complete work on the ISS. McClain and her male colleague, Nick Hague, conducted the first in the series on March 22. McClain is tentatively scheduled to be joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques for the third spacewalk in the series on April 8.

More from News

Screenshot of Nick Fuentes
America First

White Nationalist Admits That Liberals Were Right About Trump Being A 'Demagogue'

Far-right pundit and white nationalist Nick Fuentes admitted on his show that "liberals were right, fundamentally" about President Donald Trump, acknowledging Trump's brand of authoritarian populism by referring to him as a "populist demagogue."

In its modern sense, a demagogue is a political agitator who seeks to advance their political goals or personal power by appealing to people’s emotions, prejudices, and hardships.

Keep ReadingShow less
scene from Disney's Pocahontas
Disney

'Based On A True Story' Movies That Aren't True At All

The entertainment industry has long been criticized for their creative license when it comes to retelling history or anything "based on a true story."

Going back to the silent film era and D.W. Griffith's ridiculously inaccurate White supremacist propaganda Birth Of A Nation to Mel Gibson's Braveheart to Disney's Pocahontas, some films go way beyond creative license and careen into total malarkey.

Keep ReadingShow less
A person holding a fan of cash.
person holding fan of U.S. dollars banknote

People Describe The Moment They Realized They Were Privileged

There is little more off-putting than when people flaunt their wealth and privilege in other people's faces.

On the flip side, not everyone takes kindly to wealthy people who act like they're "one of us".

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Kevin Lamarque/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Musk's AI Chatbot Throws Republicans Under The Bus After Being Asked About Economy

Grok, billionaire Elon Musk's very own chatbot, threw Republicans under the bus after software engineer Alex Coke asked it if Democrats or Republicans have been better for the economy in the past 30 years, only for it to answer that yes, in fact, Democrats are the winners when it comes to economic policy.

Economic policy is certainly on everyone's minds these days. A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS shows that Americans are not pleased with President Donald Trump’s management of the economy, leaving him with unfavorable ratings on what is considered the nation’s most important issue.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
Fox 5 Washington D.C./YouTube

CNN Airs Brutal Reminder Of Trump's Previous Economic Predictions—And They Did Not Age Well

CNN came with the receipts, airing a supercut of clips from 2020 and 2024 of President Donald Trump making hilariously wrong economic predictions—a damning reel of evidence as financial markets decline and investor concerns grow over Trump’s trade policies.

In fact, Trump’s escalating trade war pushed the S&P 500 more than 10% below its record high set just last month. A drop of this size is significant enough that professional investors call it a “correction,” and the S&P 500’s 1.4% decline on Thursday marked its first since 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less