Man Films Lost NASA Toolbag From His Back Garden

Raw video:...ok not the most exciting piece of footage but amusing all the same:
A toolbag lost in space by an American astronaut in an unprecedented blunder last week has been spotted and filmed by a backyard satellite watcher in Canada.

Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper watched helplessly as the bag drifted away from her while she was cleaning and greasing a a gummed-up joint on a wing More..of solar panels on the International Space Station.

The bag - which NASA says costs about $US100,000 and is one of the largest items lost on a spacewalk - became untethered from a larger kit and floated away, taking with it a pair of grease guns, wipes and a putty knife.

Now, Kevin Fetter, a veteran satellite observer in Brockville, Ontario, has spotted the lost tool bag using his backyard observatory and published a video of it online.

He captured the backpack-sized bag at the exact time it passed over his observatory.

In an email interview, Fetter said his find had little to do with luck and he had planned to capture the tool bag on video as it was "something new in orbit".

The US military tracks objects in space and releases orbital data about them, allowing star gazers to pinpoint their location. A satellite tracker tool on the SpaceWeather.com site allows people to determine exactly when objects such as the tool bag are going to be floating over their suburbs.

"Depending on the size of the object and how much light its surface reflects will determine if I can see it, and get it on video," Fetter said.

For more info check out:

http://www.watoday.com.au/technology/backyard-space-watcher-films-lost-toolba...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Toolbag
• NASA
• Lost
• Canada
• Astronaut
• Heidemarie
• Stefanyshyn-Piper

[gbop63]

if the tool bag drops in your back yard it's likely that they will pay 50,000 reward because that's what NASA announced.

[Kr4zyS3xy]

For real?

[skydark]

it's a small loss for man, a big joke...for mankind.

[immortalsincDOTorg]

15,000 MPH Toolbag, Hell ya!

[Staroth999]

I came across this video in hopes of finding an answer about what me and 4 others had seen last night,it looked something like this...We seen what looked like a star but it moved in a odd way,and would zip across the sky like a shooting star,but then it would stop move slower and zip again...sigh I just want to know what I witnessed.

[mike081283]

i got it, i got it, if i catch it can i keep it

[hollabaluu]

Bob The Builder in Space!

[ilovetoeatgingers]

@SuperWhiteboy09 try to learn to spell?and learn english?and learn to not be an idiot?

[joachim2464]

@SuperWhiteboy09 actually NASA in coordination with the US millitary is tracking all objects in low earth orbit that is larger than 1 cm. This is done using radar. NASA tracks all objects no matter how small to prevent collissions with station. The ISS has several times started their engines to move away from small debrees that is tracked to prevent possible collison or near passes.

[OneMindsEye]

Can u imagine... 200 years from now some astronaut looks up and suddenly gets smacked in the face with a caulking gun!

[TheLogicaLia]

I found it!!

[GMdark11]

NASA go to walmart and buy a new sit of tools

[SuperWhiteboy09]

Fuck outta here u cannot track that shit. NASA is no fucking ups or fedex there not going to track bullshit like that

[Doctoratkins]

@Kr4zyS3xy Bullshit