Hand-me-down clothes, noun.
The definition of a hand-me-down is something you inherit from someone else after they no longer need or want it. An example is the clothing your older sibling wore that was passed down for you to wear.
If you’re from a single-child home or excessively wealthy, it may be more onerous to relate to the plight of NASA astronaut Anne McClain.
But I get it! I’m from a family of seven — with two older sisters!
Astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch were scheduled to take the first all-female spacewalk together on March 29, but four days prior it was announced that astronaut Nick Hague would be taking McClain’s place, due to a “spacesuit sizing issue.”
Both McClain and Koch wear an extravehicular mobility unit suit with a size-medium hard upper torso — which happens to be the smallest size that NASA has to offer. Currently in the closet at the International Space Station, there are two medium-size hard upper-torsos, two large, and two extra-large.
Of course — welcome to the real world — only one medium and one large suit are currently in usable condition. The rest are spares that would require 12 hours of preparation before astronauts can safely wear them.
Hence, the age-old challenge of wearing hand-me-downs. Simply put, there was only one medium jumpsuit and McClain didn’t call “dibs” for Friday’s outside space soirée.
McClain did tweet this week about Hague taking her place and Koch wearing the medium-size suit. “This decision was based on my recommendation … leaders must make tough calls, and I am fortunate to work with a team who trusts my judgement. We must never accept a risk that can instead be mitigated. Safety of the crew and execution of the mission come first,” she wrote
It should also be duly noted that McClain will be wearing the medium-size hard upper torso for the third series of spacewalks on April 8. She obviously called dibs!
And for Pete’s sake, let’s design some astronaut suits in women’s sizes — it is 2019.
