Science
Astronauts: 2 Nasa astronauts lost a tool bag in space. Earthlings may even be able to see it
source : m.timesofindia.com
Two NASA astronauts took off on their first spacewalk around the space station on November 1 to perform some routine maintenance. The astronauts, Major Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, spent 6 hours and 42 minutes outside removing a mounting rod and replacing a bearing. But when they reentered the space station, they noticed something was missing: their tool bag.
“One tool bag was accidentally lost during the activity,” NASA said in an update on its website about the spacewalk.
The tools in the bag were not needed for the entire spacewalk, NASA said. Mission Control said the bag’s trajectory posed a low risk of collision with the space station.
The bag is now floating through space, about 400 kilometers above Earth. And it will be there for a while.
EarthSky, a website that tracks events in space, said the white, clear tool bag would most likely remain in space for a few months and then disintegrate. It is unclear what tools were in the bag.
With clear skies and binoculars, people on Earth may be able to spot the quirky bag, EarthSky said. The key is to look up at the space station and then look around for the bag, according to EarthSky.
The astronauts aren’t the first to lose a tool bag during a spacewalk. A tool bag floated away from an astronaut in 2008 while she was doing some maintenance outside the space station.
The bag lost this month is among thousands of objects floating through space. The European Space Agency said in September that there were more than 35,000 debris objects in space, which are being tracked and cataloged by space surveillance networks. There are also thousands of smaller “debris objects” floating in space that are not being tracked, it added.
“One tool bag was accidentally lost during the activity,” NASA said in an update on its website about the spacewalk.
The tools in the bag were not needed for the entire spacewalk, NASA said. Mission Control said the bag’s trajectory posed a low risk of collision with the space station.
The bag is now floating through space, about 400 kilometers above Earth. And it will be there for a while.
EarthSky, a website that tracks events in space, said the white, clear tool bag would most likely remain in space for a few months and then disintegrate. It is unclear what tools were in the bag.
With clear skies and binoculars, people on Earth may be able to spot the quirky bag, EarthSky said. The key is to look up at the space station and then look around for the bag, according to EarthSky.
The astronauts aren’t the first to lose a tool bag during a spacewalk. A tool bag floated away from an astronaut in 2008 while she was doing some maintenance outside the space station.
The bag lost this month is among thousands of objects floating through space. The European Space Agency said in September that there were more than 35,000 debris objects in space, which are being tracked and cataloged by space surveillance networks. There are also thousands of smaller “debris objects” floating in space that are not being tracked, it added.
source : m.timesofindia.com
