You too can see that lost 'spacebag of tools'
-
-
- wiredbirds
- added this
Kanye West's career said to be out there somewhere as well.
Amateur astronomers are monitoring a shiny tool bag that has been orbiting Earth ever since it was dropped last week by an astronaut during a spacewalk outside the international space station.
[see the 'bag that got away' » http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27905284#27905284]
Veteran spacewalker Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, a member of the shuttle Endeavour's visiting crew, lost her grip on the backpack-sized bag on Nov. 18. At the time, she was cleaning up a mess from a leaking grease gun she was carrying to help mop up metal grit from inside a massive gear that turns the space station's starboard solar wings.
The tool bag cost $100,000. and its loss meant astronauts had to share the remaining tool bag for subsequent spacewalks.
Once the tool bag floated away, some thought they'd seen the end of it. Not quite. A satellite tracker at Spaceweather.com now is monitoring both the space station and the tool bag.
After sunset on Saturday, Edward Light, using 10 x 50 binoculars, spotted the bag in space while he scanned the sky from his backyard in Lakewood, N.J., Spaceweather.com reported. On the same night, Keven Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, video-recorded the bag as it passed by the star Eta Pisces in the constellation Pisces.
More bag-viewing opportunities are expected.
Amateur astronomers are monitoring a shiny tool bag that has been orbiting Earth ever since it was dropped last week by an astronaut during a spacewalk outside the international space station.
[see the 'bag that got away' » http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27905284#27905284]
Veteran spacewalker Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, a member of the shuttle Endeavour's visiting crew, lost her grip on the backpack-sized bag on Nov. 18. At the time, she was cleaning up a mess from a leaking grease gun she was carrying to help mop up metal grit from inside a massive gear that turns the space station's starboard solar wings.
The tool bag cost $100,000. and its loss meant astronauts had to share the remaining tool bag for subsequent spacewalks.
Once the tool bag floated away, some thought they'd seen the end of it. Not quite. A satellite tracker at Spaceweather.com now is monitoring both the space station and the tool bag.
After sunset on Saturday, Edward Light, using 10 x 50 binoculars, spotted the bag in space while he scanned the sky from his backyard in Lakewood, N.J., Spaceweather.com reported. On the same night, Keven Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, video-recorded the bag as it passed by the star Eta Pisces in the constellation Pisces.
More bag-viewing opportunities are expected.
-
- groups:
- Green, Earth and Science, Space
-
- tags:
- Green, Earth and Science, Space, tools, 7 more
-
- credits:
- wiredbirds pron: ka∙leb
-
-
Mark701
-
100K for a toolbag! No wonder the country is broke.
- 3 years ago
-
Mark701
-
-
islek
-
Now I can only wonder if that moving star-like object in the night sky is a satellite or the reflection of some shiny expensive tools.
- 3 years ago
-
islek
-
-
wiredbirds
-
islek:
I've put an email in to my Uncle Descartes.
- 3 years ago
-
wiredbirds
