NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara recently conducted their first spacewalk, marking a significant milestone in their careers. During this spacewalk on November 1, the astronauts spent six hours and 42 minutes performing maintenance work outside the International Space Station (ISS).
Their tasks included completing work on the station’s solar arrays, which are designed to track the sun. However, due to time constraints, the astronauts were unable to remove and stow a communications electronics box. This task has been deferred for a future spacewalk. Instead, Moghbeli and O’Hara utilized their time to assess how the deferred task could be effectively completed during a subsequent spacewalk.
During the hours-long mission, a tool bag gave them the slip and was “lost,” NASA said, with flight controllers spotting it using the ISS’ external cameras. Fortunately, the tools were not required for the remainder of their tasks.
“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,” NASA said on its official blog.
According to EarthSky, a website tracking cosmic events, the tool bag is currently orbiting Earth ahead of the ISS, and can potentially be spotted from Earth with a pair of binoculars during the next few months until it disintegrates in our planet’s atmosphere. NASA astronauts Jasmin
Losing tools or objects during spacewalks is not an uncommon occurrence. In 2008, astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper’s tool bag floated away while she was cleaning and lubricating gears on a malfunctioning rotary joint. Additionally, during a spacewalk in 2006, astronauts Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum lost a 14-inch spatula while testing a method to repair the space shuttle.
The term “space debris” refers to artificial materials in orbit around Earth that are no longer functional. This can include anything from small paint chips to discarded parts from rocket launches.
As of September 2023, the European Space Agency estimated that there were 35,290 objects being tracked and cataloged by various space surveillance networks. The total mass of objects orbiting Earth was reported to be more than 11,000 tons. Managing and monitoring space debris is crucial to maintaining the safety and functionality of space activities.