[singpilot]

Something else to think about. The astronaut was attached to a footrest by twisting his feet into a restraint, attached to the very end of a 50 foot articulated, jointed hydraulically operated boom. Being operated visually by another astronaut inside the shuttle. The operator could not see the end of the boom (and it's human cargo) from his position. He was talked thru the procedure by a third astronaut watching the end of the boom from quite a way away inside the space station that the shuttle is docked with. Even he could not see the bottom of the shuttle and the end of the boom once it went behind the hull of the shuttle. The final positioning was done by vocal commands from the cargo (astronaut) end of the boom. There was a second spacewalking astronaut in the cargo bay standing by in case the first repairman astronaut's comm system failed, or he had some problem.

The repairman astronaut also had a tether attaching him to the mid joint on the boom, and had to hold this tether and it's slack between his legs so as not to touch the thermal tiles. It was attached 25 feet away in case the end of the boom broke, detached or went inop, and gave the spacewalker a second attach point. Even the velcro tool pouch was being held rather than trusting the velcro.

So lets get this straight. Talking to a blind controller. Blind assistant who is monitoring the blind controller. Verbal commands given in three axis where there is no up or down, whose left or right are we speaking of. The tiniest mistake or boom mechanical hiccup or failure means bumping the tiles (dooming the shuttle), or worse, crushing, or ripping the single seal suit.

We won't even discuss the motion sickness aspects here. No horizon. Rebound damping on a 50 foot arm every time the boom moved or stopped. Position keeping movements of the entire station / shuttle combo amplified by the boom. Constant muscle tension to hold feet in stirrups, to hold tether in between legs, to hold the tool pouch. The glare of the unshielded sun.

And these guys made it look easy.

The definition of balls falls somewhere in here. Their commander may not physically have them, but she can fly my plane anyday.