[Slate] The 'Invisible Thread' Valid Even in Space

Director Kim Yong-hwa's Film 'The Moon'
Attempts Return Without Severing Earth Connection
Resembles US-Russia Astronaut Cooperation Amid New Cold War

The most important rule during a spacewalk is "Always stay tethered!" Equipment must never be lost. A tether that keeps astronauts from drifting far from the spacecraft or spacesuit is essential. Astronauts secure themselves to the space station with a 15-meter-long flexible stainless steel cable. They hang a reel on the hip joint part of the spacesuit and attach the other end to the handrail of the space station. Additionally, a 1-meter Kevlar strap is used to connect the workspace of the space station to the astronaut's body.

Tools are securely locked inside a tool box hung on the chest area of the spacesuit. Other tools are hung on short, high-strength Kevlar ends or hooked onto flexible equipment straps. No tool or equipment can be touched before being tied with a strap. However, sometimes the rings attached to the straps break, or astronauts forget to tie the straps. There are also frequent cases where astronauts bump into equipment, causing locks or straps to come undone. A representative example is the first American spacewalk in 1965. While the hatch of Gemini 4 was open, a loose glove slipped off.

In director Kim Yong-hwa's film The Moon, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Sang-won (Kim Rae-won) breaks the rules. While working during a spacewalk, he encounters a solar wind and is severely injured. Despite the protests of crew member Hwang Sun-woo (Do Kyung-soo), he untethers himself and disappears deep into space. This is an implicitly recognized exception. American journalist Mary Roach interviewed many astronauts while preparing her book Space Documentary. One of the questions was, "If an astronaut dies outside the spacecraft during a spacewalk, what would you do?" One astronaut answered without hesitation, "You have to cut the tether." Everyone agreed with that answer, reasoning that trying to recover the body could endanger the lives of other crew members. Roach explained as follows:

"Only those who have exerted all their effort to enter a pressurized spacesuit and space capsule can give such an answer. Only those who have freely floated in the endless expanse of space can understand that a funeral in space is not a sacrilegious act like drowning a sailor at sea, but an honorable one."

Crew member Hwang Sun-woo does not even have the luxury to accept the pain. He himself is pushed to the brink of death. However, he is connected by invisible tethers to many people, including former center director Kim Jae-guk (Seol Kyung-gu), officials at the Naro Space Center, and NASA astronauts of multinational origins. They do not give up hope and seek ways to return.

In reality, the International Space Station (ISS) has an appropriate rescue system in place. If a serious emergency occurs, astronauts board the Russian Soyuz lifeboat, undock, and return to Earth. If a cargo spacecraft becomes stranded in low Earth orbit, countries involved in space travel jointly send a rescue vehicle like the Soyuz.

It is uncertain whether cooperation can continue. Russia withdrew from the ISS project last year and announced plans to build its own space station. This appears to be a premature exit in response to U.S. sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war. There are concerns that the collapse of the cooperative system could escalate into a new Cold War atmosphere. Russia is responsible for the propulsion control system that keeps the ISS from falling due to Earth's gravity and maintains its orbit. Its departure would inevitably disrupt operations.

Despite the uneasy atmosphere, officials from both countries still maintain close ties. In February, the Soyuz M-23 spacecraft sent by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) successfully docked with the ISS. The Soyuz M-22 spacecraft, which carried American and Russian astronauts to the ISS, was struck by a meteorite in December last year, causing coolant leakage. The damaged M-22 spacecraft was abandoned unmanned. The M-23 spacecraft will return to Earth next month with astronauts whose missions were extended. Like in The Moon, drawn by the noble tether of humanity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.