The lost toolbox

By kristof on Fri, 11/28/2008 - 09:39

Last week, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost grip on a toolbox during a spacewalk; she and fellow astronaut Steve Bowen were on a space walk to clean and lubricate gears on a space station mechanism. Grease had oozed from a grease gun in her tool bag and slimed over other tools. In the process of trying to clean up the mess, she lost her grip on the 100 000 $ tool bag which would have weighed 30 pounds on Earth but floated away weightlessly in space. Even in space, women lose their purses...

NASA's runaway toolbag can now be seen through binoculars as it orbits Earth. Europeans are favored with a series of flybys in the nights ahead. The backpack-sized bag is drifting away from the ISS and it now leads the station by about eight minutes.

Here are the data for the ISS for the next couple of days : 

 
28 Nov -1.3 16:56:55 10 SW  16:59:41 39 SSE 17:02:28 10 E  
28 Nov -2.4 18:32:02 10 W  18:34:58 81 N  18:35:30 56 ENE 
29 Nov -2.2 17:24:06 10 WSW 17:27:01 75 SSE 17:29:58 10 E  
29 Nov -1.5 18:59:31 10 W  19:01:51 51 WNW 19:01:51 51 WNW 
30 Nov -2.3 17:51:37 10 W  17:54:34 78 N  17:56:39 18 E  
30 Nov 0.2 19:27:04 10 W  19:28:19 23 W  19:28:19 23 W  
1 Dec -2.4 18:19:16 10 W  18:22:14 79 NNE 18:23:13 37 E  
1 Dec 1.4 19:54:43 10 W  19:54:53 11 W  19:54:53 11 W  
2 Dec -2.3 17:11:31 10 W  17:14:28 77 N  17:17:24 10 E  
2 Dec -2.3 18:46:58 10 W  18:49:55 73 SSW 18:49:55 73 SSW 
3 Dec -2.3 17:39:19 10 W  17:42:15 81 N  17:45:06 11 E  
3 Dec -0.4 19:14:48 10 W  19:16:47 30 WSW 19:16:47 30 WSW 
4 Dec -2.1 18:07:11 10 W  18:10:07 67 SSW 18:12:09 18 ESE 
4 Dec 1.0 19:43:06 10 W  19:43:51 14 WSW 19:43:51 14 WSW

Here is the data for the toolbox: 


Friday 28 November 2008 Time Object (Link) Event 
 
Ground trackStar chart Appears      18h20m34s  13.5mag  az:261.0° W  
Culmination  18h25m30s   5.9mag  az:351.6° N    h:87.7°
 distance: 354.1km  height above Earth: 353.9km  elevation of sun: -15°
Disappears   18h26m25s   6.3mag  az: 79.8° E    h:39.9°
 
Saturday 29 November 2008 Time Object (Link) Event 
 
Ground track Star chart Appears      18h46m12s  12.8mag  az:272.5° W  
Disappears   18h51m00s   6.0mag  az:320.0° NW   h:76.0°

Monday 1 December 2008 Time Object (Link) Event 
 
Ground track Star chart Appears      18h01m59s  12.5mag  az:273.3° W  
Culmination  18h06m55s   5.9mag  az:  2.7° N    h:79.9°
 distance: 358.7km  height above Earth: 353.5km  elevation of sun: -13°
Disappears   18h08m34s   7.2mag  az: 88.1° E    h:23.3°