Expensive orbiting tool bag visible with binoculars
The tool bag cost $100,000, and its loss meant astronauts had to share the remaining tool bag for subsequent spacewalks. The tool bag weighs about 30 pounds (14 kilograms) and is 20 inches (51 centimeters) wide, about a foot (30 centimeters) high and a hand's-width deep, according to John Ray, STS-126 lead spacewalk officer for the flight. The bag contained two grease guns, a scraper tool, a large trash bag and a small debris bag.
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After sunset on Saturday, Edward Light, using 10 x 50 binoculars, spotted the bag in space while he scanned the sky from his backyard in Lakewood, N.J., SpaceWeather.com reported.
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"We currently predict that the errant tool bag will fall back to Earth in June of next year," said Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist for orbital debris at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
MSNBC
Let's see, that's $30,000 for each grease gun, $20,000 for the scraper, $6,000 for the trash bag and $4,000 for the debris bag. Plus $10,000 for the tool bag itself. (I made all that up, but geez - hasn't NASA ever heard of Sears??)
