June 12, 2007—NASA is asking the Atlantis astronauts to repair a four inch by six inch rip in a protective cloth heat shield near the spacecraft’s tail rudder. Veteran spacewalkers at the Johnson Space Center are drawing up the plan, which could include improvised tools reminiscent of a scene from the Ron Howard film "Apollo 13".

If you’ll recall, the astronauts on the ill-fated Apollo moon flight, in the film and in real life, had to evacuate from the command module mothership into the small lunar module after the command capsule was crippled by an explosion. The command module used round air purifying canisters, which fit into round compartments, and the lunar module used square cartridges that…you guessed it…fit into square compartments.

With carbon dioxide levels rising and the astronauts in danger in the lunar module, some technicians in mission control grabbed both kinds of canisters and whatever the Apollo crew had with them. One line in the movie went "we have to make one of these (round cartridges) fit into a hole built for one of these (square cartridges) using nothing but this" (the items the Apollo astronauts had).

If you wondered how Apollo 13 turned out, see it on cable.

Fast forward to Atlantis’ current mission with the torn cloth heat shield. A similar group of planners in mission control is formulating a repair plan, and some "Apollo 13" style ideas may be forthcoming. Since the heat shield is made of cloth, for example, one idea is to adapt a big needle and stainless thread used to help re-size the spacesuits used on spacewalks (yes, one size doesn’t fit all the astronauts). That tool could be used to stitch the torn shield shut.