NASA engineers are hard at work developing a kit to patch holes on the International Space Station (ISS) caused by orbital debris and meteoroid impacts.

Designated KERMIt (Kit for External Repair of Module Impacts), the system was developed by the Mission Operations Laboratory at the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama to permit crew members on EVA to seal penetrations in pressurized, habitable compartments of ISS. The KERMIt patches would be installed after the damaged compartment had become fully depressurized. Installing the patch starts with placing a clear plastic plate with a foam gasket ring over the hole. A toggle bolt through the center of the plate and a large knobbed nut holds it in place against the hull.

In initial tests in June 1999 astronauts approved the design except they suggested replacing “the standard nutwith a ZipNut® that can be pushed down the length of the toggle bolt, and then twisted into place.”

ZipNut® engineers working with the KERMIt Team during July and August 1999 developed a 3/8-16 stainless steel threaded insert (“ZipSert”) to be embedded in the knob that holds the patch onto the repair stud. Astronauts would thus be able to install the patch more quickly and with less difficulty.

The ZipSert design has been accepted and approved by NASA officials. Initial flight hardware delivers will begin in the first quarter of 2000.

11/12/1999