Astronauts drop tool bag while out on spacewalk for repair job

Dropping your tool bag into space is a bit different from losing a screw driver in the garage.

When the missus asks where the new space hammer has gone, at least you aren't lying when you tell her it's lost in space.

At the start of the month (1 November), NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara spent nearly seven hours doing space jobs, such as fixing a solar power array, outside the International Space Station (ISS).

Although space solar panels don’t need to worry about clouds or atmospheric interference, it's important that they point at the Sun, which is more difficult than it sounds.

This was one of the main jobs given to the space team, who then managed to successfully track the Sun and generate electricity to power the station.

Another job, which was also done successfully, was to remove a handling bar fixture causing tracking disruption, in order to prepare for future solar installations.

NASA

However, during installation, flight controllers picked up an object spinning off into space.

This object was indeed a tool bag.

After quick assessment, NASA officials determined that the chances of the bag colliding with the space station were low and allowed it to simply fly into space.

NASA said the tools 'were not needed for the remainder of the spacewalk'.

But this meant that plans to remove a communications box were unsuccessful.

The ISS said: "NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara concluded their spacewalk today (1 November) at 2:47 p.m. EDT after 6 hours and 42 minutes.

"The duo replaced one of the 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the port solar alpha rotary joint, which allows the arrays to track the Sun and generate electricity to power the station.

"The astronauts had planned to remove and stow a communications electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group, but there was not enough time during the spacewalk to complete the work.

"The duo lifted some multilayer insulation to make a better assessment of how to approach the job before replacing the insulation and deferring the task to a future spacewalk."

NASA TV

The ISS confirmed: "Mission Control told the station crew that the solar array is functioning well after the bearing replacement."

In a bid to make staying in space safer, the NASA duo wore state-of-the-art bio-monitor headbands, which were 'packed with sensors that monitor an astronaut's health and physiological parameters while minimally interfering with their crew activities'.