Lost NASA Tool Bag Can Be Seen With Binoculars

A tool bag that astronauts accidentally let float away during a routine spacewalk at the International Space Station is now orbiting Earth and can be seen with a pair of binoculars. NBC News reports: The bag drifted away from the space station this month when NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara were performing maintenance on the exterior of the orbiting outpost. 'During the activity, one tool bag was inadvertently lost,' NASA officials wrote Nov. 1 in a blog post detailing the outcome of the spacewalk. 'Flight controllers spotted the tool bag using external station cameras. The tools were not needed for the remainder of the spacewalk.'

The bag is now circling the planet in low-Earth orbit, but NASA said there's little danger of the tools hitting the International Space Station. 'Mission Control analyzed the bag's trajectory and determined that risk of recontacting the station is low and that the onboard crew and space station are safe with no action required,' the agency said in the blog post. For now then, the lost tool bag has become a new artificial 'star' in the night sky. The tool bag is orbiting about a minute ahead of the space station and may be bright enough to see with a pair of binoculars. 'Skywatchers who want to try to spot the tool bag in orbit should head out on a clear night and first determine when the International Space Station is passing overhead,' reports NBC News. 'The tool bag will likely remain visible in the night sky for a few months, before its orbit slowly degrades and it eventually falls toward Earth.'

You can track the ISS via NASA's Spot the Station website.

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