Challenge of putting together COLBERT treadmill reaches new heights in space

Many of us have labored through 30 pages of instructions to put together a wardrobe from Ikea or a desk from Office Depot. Pieces are sometimes missing or broken. It's time-consuming. Fights break out over which piece goes where and there's the inevitable "I told you so."

But what's it like to put together a $5 million treadmill in space?

Last week, astronauts aboard the International Space Station unpacked the COLBERT, named after Comedy Central comedian Stephen Colbert, and began the 20-hour process of putting it together.

The COLBERT — Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill — comes with 52 pieces and 62 pages of instructions.

Sliding the treadmill into the rack that will hold it requires a series of alignments that "can be as tricky as parallel parking a school bus," says Bob Tweedy, a countermeasures system instructor at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Astronaut Nicole Stott of Clearwater will lead the effort during the next few weeks to assemble the 2,200-plus pound treadmill. Before Stott left for space, she spent four hours going over the assembly procedures with lighter mock pieces.

As with Ikea instructions, there are pictures to help Stott and other astronauts combine the parts. But NASA engineers added hundreds of step-by-step instructions: Align pins (one per side) on back side of Upper Isolator Bracket with spring end of Right Upper Isolators (two).

Probably the biggest challenge will be the vibration isolation system, a complicated assembly of brackets and dampers that serve as shock absorbers for the treadmill. It's supposed to prevent those who use the treadmill from rocking the space station and interrupting sensitive experiments.

There are plenty of small parts in this do-it-yourself assembly. But just about all of them have been attached to the treadmill and its rack to prevent the kind of chaos that can happen when you have lots of small pieces in a zero-gravity environment. Bolts and other small parts are attached so they don't float off.

This is the International Space Station's second treadmill. It's more advanced than the first, giving NASA the ability to track a runner's foot force and adjust accordingly. Astronauts are strapped to the treadmill with a harness to create the kind of friction needed to work their muscles, which can break down in space.

Each astronaut must work out 2 1/2 hours in space every day, including one hour on the treadmill.

During its time in orbit, the COLBERT will likely handle 38,000 miles of running. Barring any assembly obstacles, the astronauts will begin using it later this month.

Leonora LaPeter Anton can be reached at lapeter@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8640.