A NASA astronaut accidentally lost a tool bag in space while making repairs on the International Space Station earlier this month, according to Business Insider.
It turns out that this isn’t the first time astronauts have accidentally launched objects into space. This has happened at least four times to NASA astronauts.
NASA said in a press release that on November 2, astronauts Yasmine Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were carrying out some repairs on the International Space Station.
During this mission outside the International Space Station in space, which lasted 6 hours and 42 minutes, one of the astronauts accidentally left the tool bag they were using, causing it to drift into space, according to NASA.
The space agency said that flight controllers later spotted the bag on the station’s external cameras, but decided that its path did not pose a danger to the space station or its crew.
She added that when Moghbeli and O’Hara lost the bag, it was no longer needed to complete repairs.
The bag is expected to drift in front of the space station for a few months before eventually burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
During a mission outside the International Space Station in 2017, astronauts Peggy Whitson and Shane Kimbrough lost an item they needed to complete their work on the International Space Station: a bag containing a debris shield intended to cover the access point, the Washington Post reported in that time.
After the 18-pound bag was lost, mission control teams on the ground had to scramble to find another solution so that the access point would not be detected, according to the newspaper. But they were quickly able to assemble a replacement using other materials.
