Astronaut loses tool bag during spacewalk
“An Astronaut is only as good as her tools.”
An Astronaut is only as good as her tools.
Navy Capt. Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper had a bad day on Tuesday. During her spacewalk outside the International Space Station. She dropped her tool bag and it drifted off into space.
Everyone has dropped a tool and had to climb down the ladder to pick it up. Most folks have had to make a quick trip to the Depot in the middle of a job to buy a special-purpose tool. This was kind of like that.
On the other hand, this tool bag cost around $100,000 and was one of only two on board the shuttle. BTW, the $100,000 includes shipping costs. :-)
In the NASA video, Capt. Stefanyshyn-Piper repeatedly tried to grab the bag as it drifted away. Now that must have been a sick feeling! Perhaps the observers radioed her, “Let it go! It’s not worth being a meteor for a tool bag!” She probably wanted to get away.
I hope she has a sense of humor. Of course a woman would lose her pocketbook…
In her defense, Capt. Stefanyshyn-Piper is not the first astronaut to lose items in space. Some of them were far more important than one of two tool bags. So far no one has fallen off the ladder trying to retrieve a bolt or a thermal cover, and that’s a good thing.
Did I mention that they lost a spider on the ISS? It’s an orb spider of some sort. Orb spiders are huge buggers that build characteristically orb-shaped webs. Capt. Stefanyshyn-Piper was overheard saying she’ll just wait out in the shuttle until they catch it… ;-)
Thanks to the Parody Motivator Generator at despair.com for helping me make the poster.
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