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Dropped Shuttle Toolbag Filmed From Earth

Posted by timothy on from the that's-insane dept.

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.

14 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. Floating corpses by hansamurai · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So does that mean if an astronaut got disconnected and floated off, we'd be able to see them orbiting or flying off too? Kind of morbid.

    --
    Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
  2. Re:Check out the sexism on the youtube video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Um, no, this female astronaut is actually quite smart, unlike Sarah Palin. If Palin had been a dude, we still would've said "hey, look at the stupid person". Having tits doesn't mean that when you say something stupid, people will just ignore it.

    Don't like us liberals commenting on SP? Then stop bringing her up.

  3. Re:That's no moon! by nmb3000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's a tool bag!

    Sigh...

    There go another set of $10,000 government hammers -- not to mention the $24,000 socket set :(

    (Ha. As an aside, I wonder how much that tool bag really cost when you factor in its mass during launch.)

    --
    "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
    /)
  4. Dark Star by owlnation · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On top of the toolbag as it glides, sits Doolittle the Spider.

  5. Send the shuttle to retrieve it by Dr_Banzai · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Simple: when the shuttle's done at the station, detach and intercept the bag in orbit. Voila, $100k saved. They could think of it as a drill for retrieving an astronaut who floats away during a spacewalk.

    1. Re:Send the shuttle to retrieve it by OriginalArlen · · Score: 2, Interesting
      1. there is no way the shuttle could retrieve an astronaut who "floated away". Hence, no drill.
      2. For the same reasons that they can't intercept you putative astronaut marshmallow, they also can't intercept the toolbag.

      The nature of those reasons are left as an exercise for Dr _Banzai. (Hints: delta-v, ranging.)

      --

      Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
    2. Re:Send the shuttle to retrieve it by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The shuttle doesn't carry enough fuel to do plane transfer maneuvers (that's the main reason why timing is important when launching), and even if it did, it would take a hell of a lot of maneuvering to do a full orbital realignment - which would probably cost more in fuel alone than those $100k.

      This is only partly true. The impetus she could have given the toolbag, even deliberately, is no more than whatever her arm can generate. A Major League Pitcher can manage maybe 100 mph (45 m/s) with a baseball, much less with a backpack sized toolbox.

      I doubt this woman could have come close to that by accident. Which means maybe a few meters per second velocity differential at the beginning. Which the Shuttle could quite easily have matched.

      Letting it go for a while gives it time to move around its new orbit enough that the Shuttle would require multiple burns to match orbits (not because the initial impetus was high, but because you need to change to an orbit that reaches the toolbag's new orbital position and velocity when the toolbag gets to there). Which makes it prohibitive.

      This, of course, ignoring the fact that it's mostly silly to try to recover a toolbag in a situation like that, unless it's clearly going to smack into the ISS or Shuttle in an orbit or three....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  6. The Tool Tray NASA clip... by pentalive · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was watching some sort of NASA clip that showed a tool tray for on-orbit work. It locked the tools down until you plugged the lanyard from your suit into the tool, then the only way to get the lanyard off the tool was to lock it back into the tray..

    Guess that wasn't in use this time.

  7. Re:How? by MrNaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Incorrect. Had she not imparted momentum to it by shoving it aside, it would have stayed right there and not moved, at least in any time frame likely to be relevant to the ISS personnel.

    --
    I hate printers.
  8. Re:That's no moon! by compro01 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You try exposing your socket set to -269C and see how well it works. The steel will become brittle and shatter.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  9. Re:That's no moon! by LoRdTAW · · Score: 4, Interesting

    LOL Oh if I only had mod points.

    A Snap-on 22 piece ratchet kit is over 500 bucks. Hell a tool box from them is over $300!

  10. Re:That's no moon! by AlecC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The tool that finally got the jammed Skylab solar "wings" to unfold was a $10 crowbar from the local hardware store in Florida.

    --
    Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
  11. Serious question... by MoeDrippins · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How do we know the thing in the wmv was, in fact, the tool bag? I assume it's tracked or something (based on known orbit/velocity/somethingelseaboutwhichIknownothing)? I.e. we know it should have been there, then? And lo, something was there, then, so that was it?

    --
    Before you design for reuse, make sure to design it for use.
  12. Re:That's no moon! by Intron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's a tool bag!

    Sigh...

    There go another set of $10,000 government hammers -- not to mention the $24,000 socket set :(

    (Ha. As an aside, I wonder how much that tool bag really cost when you factor in its mass during launch.)

    Not the worst accident that's happened due to a dropped tool.

    --
    Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.