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Dropped Shuttle Toolbag Filmed From Earth

cathector writes "An article at spaceweather.com reports that the toolbag dropped during Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper's spacewalk has been recorded on film from earth: 'When Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped her toolbag during a spacewalk on Nov. 18th and it floated away, mission controllers probably figured they'd seen the last of it. Think again. Last night, Nov. 22nd, veteran satellite observer Kevin Fetter video-recorded the backpack-sized bag gliding over his backyard observatory in Brockville, Ontario. "It was easily 8th magnitude or brighter as it passed by the 4th magnitude star eta Pisces," he says. Spaceweather's satellite tracker is monitoring the toolbag.'" The actual loss of the bag was filmed, too; reader Kagura links in a comment on the original story to this YouTube clip of the bag's escape.

39 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. That's no moon! by Huntr · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's a tool bag!

    1. Re:That's no moon! by windsurfer619 · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, it's a tarp!

    2. Re:That's no moon! by slater86 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I bet the guys wish they dropped it.Thats some serious bragging rights

      "I told ya you need a telescope to see my tool."

      --
      When people ask if I'm an optimist, I say "I hope so". --Bill Bailey
    3. Re:That's no moon! by LingNoi · · Score: 5, Funny

      oh great, the idiot masses of digg and youtube have found slashdot..

    4. Re:That's no moon! by Ironsides · · Score: 5, Funny

      I bet the guys wish they dropped it.Thats some serious bragging rights "I told ya you need a telescope to see my tool."

      I don't think that implies what you think it implies.

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    5. Re:That's no moon! by roguetrick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Trolling is a slashdot tradition.

      You must be new here.

      --
      -The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
    6. Re:That's no moon! by PachmanP · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah I think a better brag would be "I told you that it was visible 350km away!"

      --
      You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
    7. Re:That's no moon! by Dan541 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Is that due to their mass during launch, or because NASA think their too good to shop at Walmart?

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
    8. Re:That's no moon! by fuego451 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ah, okay. Must have been a Snap-on starter kit.

    9. Re:That's no moon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      100k USD? No biggie, that's like 2000 Euros now.

    10. Re:That's no moon! by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Funny

      NASA guessed the bag/tools as being worth USD$100,000.00 [tbo.com]...

      Still cheaper than Louis Vutton.

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    11. Re:That's no moon! by zonker · · Score: 5, Funny

      Remember what the ISS is mostly made of.

      Love?

    12. Re:That's no moon! by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Funny

      Considering the cost of the ISS and the delays in building it, I'm assuming it's made entirely of unicorn bones.

      Thus, not magnetic.

    13. Re:That's no moon! by HTRednek · · Score: 5, Funny

      And when Deanna drove the Enterprise, she smacked a PLANET!

    14. Re:That's no moon! by nog_lorp · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unicorn bones contain small amounts of neodymium, making them magnetic.

  2. Beam me up Scotty by bobbonomo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scotty will use it in the future to fix the Enterprise. Good stuff.

    1. Re:Beam me up Scotty by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, in the future it'll come back as an alien intelligence named T'lbg.

      --
      You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  3. Filmed all the way from Earth? by TheLazySci-FiAuthor · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I can't even find a single Phillips screwdriver in my own closet!

    1. Re:Filmed all the way from Earth? by peragrin · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's only a couple hundred miles away. two maybe three hours in the car.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
  4. Re:Great! by MichaelSmith · · Score: 5, Funny

    I suppose something of this incident will go down in history and become the origin of some common expression like Murphy's Law in the distant future.

    They hubbled it up!

  5. Re:A "FETCH" unit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Perhaps one of these?

  6. Re:A "FETCH" unit by Aniyn · · Score: 2, Funny

    It would actually be cheaper to train astronauts not to throw $100,000 worth of tools away. Well, with the way nasa does things, maybe not....

  7. Re:Floating corpses by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, and yes.

  8. Re:How? by TuaAmin13 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because of GMm/R^2

  9. Re:brighter? by overcaffein8d · · Score: 5, Funny

    timestamp 3: ???
    timestamp 4: profit!

    --
    Those of us who think they know everything annoy those of us who do.
  10. Mirrored WMV by antdude · · Score: 3, Funny
    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  11. The Astronaut's Prayer by Animats · · Score: 4, Funny

    One of the Apollo astronauts once remarked that what they really think about is "Please let me not fuck up.".

  12. Re:Great! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

    People surnamed "Stefanyshyn-Piper" don't get laws named after them. "Piper", sure. "Stefanyshyn", if the law happens to be mathematical; but that's about it.

  13. Re:Floating corpses by Dan541 · · Score: 4, Funny

    However that asshole with the scissors is not.

    --
    An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
  14. Re:NASA Bloopers Tape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    NASA funniest home videos?

    Seriously though, I feel sorry for this woman. One minor slip up and because the media latched onto it this is all she'll ever be remembered for. NASA astronauts risk life and limb and while the humour's good we shouldn't forget the effort and sacrifice they make should not be dismissed lightly.

    Yes, let's not have another horrible NASA acronym. I propose "Need Another Sticky Adhesive" be used instead of a Challenger-eque one.

  15. Re:NASA Bloopers Tape by Krishnoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    One minor slip up and because the media latched onto it this is all she'll ever be remembered for.

    "I dropped a toolbag on a spacewalk. But I learned my lesson. And that's why I'll use nothing but Husky brand tethered toolbags, now with lined pockets for those messy grease gun spills."

    The possibilities are endless.

  16. Re:Send the shuttle to retrieve it by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, actually, Shane was going to bring along his fishing pole (you know, just in case), but then Heide was like "That's ridiculous, Scott! There aren't going to be any fish up there, for god's sake. There's no room for all your useless toys. I need room for the sandwiches and extra socks. If your socks get wet what good is your stupid fishing pole?"

    And so the fishing pole stayed home, and you should have seen the look Steve got as they watched the bag drift away and he suddenly turned to Shane and said "Hey - where is your fishing pole?"

    --
    "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
    --- Jerry Garcia
  17. Re:A "FETCH" unit by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, that's the problem at our house. Our FETCH unit digs up the garden, craps on the neighbor's lawn, pisses off their cat, chases squirrels, knocks up the poodle down the street.

    The shuttle crew will need to deploy the rolled up newspaper from time to time.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  18. Re:Filmed? Those look more like video to me. by greenguy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, but it weirds language.

    --
    What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
  19. Re:Check out the sexism on the youtube video by Plaid+Phantom · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dangit fine. I tried to resist, but there wasn't enough time left on the countdown.

    --
    All comments are properties and trademarks of the voices in my head. Not like I'm gonna claim them.
  20. Re:brighter? by overcaffein8d · · Score: 3, Funny

    i'd say you must be new here, but you probably wouldn't get that either

    --
    Those of us who think they know everything annoy those of us who do.
  21. Re:Send the shuttle to retrieve it by Dr_Banzai · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nothing's impossible - haven't you seen Apollo 13?

  22. Re:brighter? by floydman · · Score: 2, Funny

    wasnt that captured by the pirates?

    --
    The lunatic is in my head
  23. Re:brighter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I for one welcome- ah, fuck it. Can't make that one work.