Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
A tool bag is orbiting Earth. No, this isn't an elaborate Elon Musk joke.
The bag entered orbit during a spacewalk conducted by NASA astronauts and International Space Station residents Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara on November 1. During their almost seven-hour space stroll, during which they replaced bearings on a sun-tracking solar array and removed some communications equipment, NASA revealed the tool bag "was inadvertently lost," by one of the dynamic duo.
"Mission Control analyzed the bag's trajectory and determined that risk of recontacting the station is low and that the onboard crew and space station are safe with no action required," the space agency added.
Dr Meganne Christian, a member of the European Space Agency’s 2022 astronaut class, shared a snippet of helmet camera footage from Moghbeli's space suit showing the bag slipping away and the futile scramble to retrieve it.
But the container – a “crew lock bag” in official NASA parlance – didn’t just drift away out of human view.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Center for Astrophysics confirmed last week that the bag had been catalogued by the US Space Force as 58229/1998-067WC and was being tracked as a new orbital object.
The next day, Japanese ISS resident Satoshi Furukawa snapped a photo of the bag following day as the ISS passed over Japan.
According to McDowell, the bag isn't in a stable orbit, and is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in a few months, when it will burn up completely and won't be a risk to anyone on the ground.
For those interested in observing the bag before it burns up in Earth's atmosphere, that just might be possible with the proper equipment and timing.
The bag's brightness is magnitude six , or just at the edge of the eye's unaided visibility limit under perfect conditions. Binoculars would make spotting it far easier. Sat-spotters seeking a sighting of the space spanners should look a few minutes ahead of the ISS’s expected path, which can be tracked online or with a recently launched mobile app.
(Score: 4, Funny) by crafoo on Friday November 17, @04:31AM (6 children)
women and tools, am I right? Come on. Stop with the diversity hiring.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday November 17, @12:58PM (2 children)
You know, to refute your point I searched past history, figuring this can't be the only time a tool bag has been lost in space.
Turns out it isn't, it happened in November 2008: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/science/space/19brfs-TOOLBAGISLOS_BRF.html [nytimes.com]
Wasn't able to refute your point though, as that was a female astronaut as well.
I am surprised there isn't an easy to find list of stuff that has been lost in space. Either it doesn't happen often enough to warrant keeping track of it, or it happens so often it would be embarrassing to publish a "lost and found" space list. All I can find is general "estimated orbital debris" lists, which includes all and sundry.
(Score: 1) by cereal_burpist on Saturday November 18, @04:55AM
How about a TV show? [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18, @11:22PM
"Does my bum look big in this spacesuit?"
(Score: 2) by DadaDoofy on Friday November 17, @06:53PM (1 child)
It was also reported that some of the objectives of the space walk were not accomplished, as it took over an hour longer than planned for the women to loosen some bolts. Rest assured, the brightest minds at NASA are hard at work on this problem. Word has it, the next "all woman" crew will consist of biological men.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday November 17, @07:24PM
Some people's imaginations are filled with wonder over the exciting discoveries we might make in space, others occupy their imaginations trying to picture what's underneath the undies of our brave space travelers.
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(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday November 18, @02:03AM
On one hand, moving in space (zero-grav/orbit) is *hard*. You have to rewire how your brain thinks of up/down, and velocity/acceleration. I can understand if mistakes happen.
On the other hand, based on personal experience, women do have a harder time learning zero-grav (e.g., in space sim games). Hopefully they aren't relaxing their requirements based on sex (although unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if they are).
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(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday November 17, @08:59AM (3 children)
Does that make Jasmin Moghbeli the first person to throw something into orbit?
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday November 17, @01:02PM (1 child)
Not sure, there have been a few cases of golf balls being driven into orbit (be it Moon orbit from the Apollo missions, or ISS orbit more recently), there have been cases of other tool bags accidentally ending up in orbit, but I am not sure anyone has "thrown" anything in orbit as such. Probably has happened but unofficially so not documented.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday November 17, @01:08PM
Apologies, did more research and looks like the moon golf shots did not reach orbit. According to https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/remastered-images-reveal-how-far-alan-shepard-hit-a-golf-ball-on-the-moon/ [arstechnica.com] the balls were driven max 40 yards, so didn't enter orbit at all.
The golf ball driven from the ISS would have been in orbit. News from 2006 talks about a large discrepancy between NASA and the Russian space agency over how long the ball would stay in orbit: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10606-space-golf-shot-might-stay-in-orbit-for-years/ [newscientist.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Friday November 17, @01:13PM
Supposedly the first hand-launched accidental satellite was a Hasselblad camera which slipped from the reach of an astronaut. IIRC it was during the 1966 Gemini 10 mission.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday November 17, @12:27PM (1 child)
Is this bag where they keep all those $500k spanners, wrenches and hammers that pop up in budgets from time to time?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday November 17, @01:14PM
With proper "Hollywood" accounting the station costs about $1.25M per person per day as a "hotel" as of half a decade ago. Assuming transport cost is free LOL. I suppose with Space-X in business the cost of transport will eventually drop lower than the "hotel cost" of living on the station.
Of course, aerospace is on the fringes of accounting technology and almost any requested number can be pulled out of any situation with enough massaging of the raw data. Could probably pencil whip that down to $1200 for an all inclusive resort stay or pencil whip it up to $10B for a short stay depending on the desired axe to grind.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Friday November 17, @07:42PM
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