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Casey Handmer International Space Station
21,988 views • 1 year ago •via X (Twitter)
12 Comments

The ISS's structural integrity is far more marginal than is being publicly discussed. We are having multiple, and increasingly frequent, leaks from heavily fatigued node segments in the Russian section. When Aluminum gets flexed it fatigues and gets harder, increasing its tendency to crack. Cracks concentrate forces at their tips, and spread over time. Multiple cracks have been discovered. There is no "factor of safety" associated with this failure mode. None of the structural pressure vessels are meant to crack. We are not even single fault tolerant on the structural integrity of the station. We could wake up tomorrow and find, with zero warning, that it has failed catastrophically. Whether that means a leak slow enough to close some hatches, get the crew out or at least into safer parts of the station, is a roll of the dice. It could also depressurize in less than a minute.

@CJHandmer Amazing! Never understood it until now.

you a fan of space music?

@CJHandmer This video is amazing

@CJHandmer IamLegend, thank you for sharing these videos. It was a learning experience. Thank you

@CJHandmer That was really interesting.. is there a link to a longer video to keep watching? Thx for sharing 💯

@CJHandmer Time to come home.

@CJHandmer It’s an old, obsolete, used Space Station. Like a 28 year old car.

@CJHandmer Amazing !!

@CJHandmer Full video?

@CJHandmer Imagine!! What Engineering has been to deep space is a miracle of life. We must keep it alive and growing.

@CJHandmer Space is the vehicle for world peace.

