Lost NASA tool bag is in orbit could be visible from Earth

An astronaut’s tool bag that accidentally floated away during a routine spacewalk at the International Space Station is now orbiting Earth and may be bright enough to spot by keen-eyed skywatchers.

That’s no moon.

An astronaut’s tool bag that accidentally floated away during a routine spacewalk at the International Space Station is now orbiting Earth and may be bright enough to spot by keen-eyed skywatchers.

The bag drifted away from the space station this month when NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were performing maintenance on the exterior of the orbiting outpost.

“During the activity, one tool bag was inadvertently lost,” NASA officials wrote Nov. 1 in a blog post detailing the outcome of the spacewalk. “Flight controllers spotted the tool bag using external station cameras. The tools were not needed for the remainder of the spacewalk.”

The bag is now circling the planet in low-Earth orbit, but NASA said there’s little danger of the tools hitting the International Space Station.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/lost-nasa-tool-bag-orbit-visible-earth-rcna125147

---