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Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

usatoday.com

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Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#81

Post by neilv »

sieste wrote: post #25
fouronnes3 wrote: post #3

Anyone got a link to an official report detailing what happened? The article is kinda light on details, but I assume this is a major mishap that can only happen if multiple things go wrong simultaneously? Everything m they do up there is a precisely choreographed dance so it would be interesting to read a technical report on that.

Yes it's a bit light on details. But they do point out the most important facts, namely what gender the astronauts are and that it has not been officially confirmed whether the tool box contained a 10mm wrench. Personally, that's everything I needed to know about the situation.

Both those and something else jumped out at me, for different reasons. I remember this story from newsprint days:

https://fair.org/home/al-neuharths-front-page-sexism/

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#82

Post by shaftway »

Smoosh wrote: post #58
I_Am_Nous wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love 10mm wrenches so much I bought a Japanese motorcycle :P I do so much better with whole numbers than fractions.

As well as the 10mm wrench, you may find it useful to have a 1cm spanner.

I know this is really tangential, but one of my favorite lines from cartoons as a kid was from an episode of Pinky and the Brain and it included this kind of wordplay.

Their plan included forming a grunge band, which they called "Frog the Dry Widget" (a play on Toad the Wet Sproket).

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#83

Post by kridsdale3 »

morelisp wrote: post #78
bandyaboot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not familiar with how the *nauts tether themselves to the station, but I figured it would be something similar to safety tethers when working up high in precarious situations —2 tethers with only 1 allowed to be disconnected at any particular moment. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the same thing were done for anything that they don’t want to float away. But, perhaps that adds more complexity than it’s worth.

Tools don't need to be safe, though; you need to be safe from them. IANAA, but two tethers on your toolbag sounds like a great way to accidentally fuck up the two tethers on yourself.

Good news: The tools are secure.

Bad news: You are condemned to die alone in space.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#84

Post by 9dev »

nerdponx wrote: post #66
yieldcrv wrote: post #56

> "The white, satchel-like tool bag slipped away from two astronauts during a rare, all-female spacewalk." Could have left that in drafts

Apparently the howling masses love it when a woman messes up in space. Try to hold your lunch down while reading the comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPV9QpC1JtU

Oh wow, you’re right. That’s some first class misogynistic bullshit in pretty much every single comment.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#85

Post by ReptileMan »

yieldcrv wrote: post #56

> "The white, satchel-like tool bag slipped away from two astronauts during a rare, all-female spacewalk." Could have left that in drafts

So could have the NY times couple of years ago with

> Why NASA's First All-Women Spacewalk Made History

And we have articles in space.com just a week ago

>Watch 2 NASA astronauts conduct 4th-ever all-female spacewalk today

If all female walks are news, then fuck ups during all female space walks are also news worth pointing.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#87

Post by dotnet00 »

crazygringo wrote: post #20
kristianp wrote: post #13

They need a drone to go and pick these dropped items. How much fun that would be!

Now you've got me genuinely curious -- does something like that exist? A space drone with gas propulsion and a grasping hand? It seems like it would be "relatively" simple, and useful for basic tasks that don't need a full human. I mean, now that you mention it, it really seems like that ought to be a thing, and that this would be a perfect use case for it. (Visual inspection of the ISS exterior would be another.)

Main concern with a free-flying thing using propellants is that something goes wrong causing it to smack into the station hard.

That's why the Canadarm handles inspection/gripping work. Much less risky to have a migrating robotic arm.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#88

Post by kridsdale3 »

kube-system wrote: post #59
munk-a wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably just regular stuff but of a high enough quality that we'd consider sending it to space? Defense and space equipment procurement is usually a lot more expensive than normal because 1) companies exploit the bidding system 2) you really don't want a screw driver that fails when you're re-attaching a solar panel to something floating in LEO since the run to the local Lowe's is going to be quite expensive.

And also, a lot of it is low volume stuff, and fixed costs in manufacturing are huge. The reason the tools you buy at the home improvement store are cheap is because the fixed costs are spread out over thousands to millions of units. Design/labor/fixturing/tooling/etc can be brutal for low volumes. If you want to build a single Lego, the tooling could cost you hundreds of thousand of dollars.

One iPhone 16 is Five Billion Dollars. 50 million iPhones 16 can be made for $200 each.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#89

Post by yieldcrv »

nerdponx wrote: post #66
yieldcrv wrote: post #56

> "The white, satchel-like tool bag slipped away from two astronauts during a rare, all-female spacewalk." Could have left that in drafts

Apparently the howling masses love it when a woman messes up in space. Try to hold your lunch down while reading the comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPV9QpC1JtU

is it possible that today’s spacewalk was paying homage to the one in 2008?

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#90

Post by dclowd9901 »

kube-system wrote: post #54
sieste wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's a bit light on details. But they do point out the most important facts, namely what gender the astronauts are and that it has not been officially confirmed whether the tool box contained a 10mm wrench. Personally, that's everything I needed to know about the situation.

The 10mm reference is a meme. It is the most common size when working on a vehicle and is frequently misplaced. Although it's kind of strange to see that type of writing in USA Today... I thought I was reading Jalopnik or something.

Not strange at all. USA Today has always been basic news writing for basic people.
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