don't leave home without it

did you know that they send along a roll of duct tape on every manned space mission? 'tis true. it's also true that they've used it!

the latest incident came up on july 11 when the connecting latches came loose on the jet backpack the astronauts use on all space walks. the men wanted to tape things securely before their next walk, and planned to use Kapton (apparently an updated version) which "is like duct tape but is slippery and able to withstand both frigid cold and fiery hot temperatures."
( http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/NASA/ )

duct tape was called into stand-by service for a repair problem on a mission on august 2, 2005, as well as on a 4 1/2-month mission on the international space station in 2001 (there was no kitchen table so the frustrated astronauts built one out of scrap aluminum, and duct taped the top), the apollo 17 mission (dust trouble from the lunar rover on the moon, december 1972), and of course the suspenseful apollo 13 mission wherein duct tape played a role in the ingenious and crucial fix of the air filtration system during april 1970.

pretty amazing, huh?!