Astronaut outside space station loses tool bag

Surely NASA requires that the tools be secured either to the astronaut or to their work at all times.

SFC

"buy them books, send them to school and all they want to do is...............the teacher."

I thought that only dry lubricants -- graphite -- can be used in the vacuum of space; is that "dark gray stuff" in the "grease gun" some sort of special graphite formulation?

they need a small remote controlled aeresol propelled grapel for times like that lol. I thought some of thier suits were made to maneuver away from contact with shuttle too?
but yeah, really suprising bag wasnt tethered. bet it will be next time. "honey I lost your tools but I have a really good excuse...well, I know where they are but you'll never get them back" I wonder how many years that bag will be in orbit.

Two questions:
What was the cost of the bag and its contents(please include "shipping" costs)?
And, what is the cost of a tether?

And I can't help but ask this third question:
How exactly were they planning on working AND hanging on to the toolkit WITHOUT a tether?
:/

So they went outside with no tether on their tools... Uh-huh. I still can't picture that. It reminds me of that shot of Micheal Jackson holding an infant out off a balcony. ONLY A LOT MORE DANGEROUS!

Do they imagine that you can let go of something valuable in space and actually have some hope of retrieving it?

Wouldn't there be a closely monitored check-list for the entire space walk?

So... Doesn't this mean that none of the tools in the toolkit were tethered either?

If the toolkit was open(it looks like it was), won't all the tools drift out? Isn't that sorta dangerous?

If the grease-gun "exploded," shouldn't that have been a sign to abort the spacewalk, go back inside and develop a new procedure or work-around? Wouldn't one automatically assume that the second grease-gun might be prone to similar catastrophic failure? Aren't exploding tools a NASA no-no near pressurized space suits?

Just askin'.

I guess my big concern would be, and granted it is highly unlikely to cause a problem, would be as a HUGE hazard to any other space craft in it's orbital path.

Is it in a stable orbit or decaying one? If the latter it's not a problem at all. If the former they're going to have to track it's orbit as they would a regular satellite and cross their fingers it doesn't intersect with another one at the wrong place/time.

WATCH YOUR HEADS !!!!

Jesus, zevkirsh, I don't know why they don't have you out there McGuyvering about, solving all problems. Maybe they can't "device" a way to get such an obvious genius like yourself out there.



Jack ass.

Well, why the answer may not be as simple as zevkirsh proposed... WHY don't we have small rockets on the space suits? I mean, for crying out loud: "Earlier, the spacewalkers spotted a screw floating by, but were too far away to catch it." Um... you couldn't move a few feet? NASA needs to implement a few more robust systems. Magnetic tool belts, flight rockets on the suits, longer tethers... NON-loosening screws... The list goes on. I just get the impression they designed everything to do the job it was mean to do perfectly, and then stopped thinking. Anyone else think having self-propelled suits in space MIGHT be useful at some point in time? Apparently nobody did at NASA.

^Yeah, but it also sounds exceedingly dangerous. Orbital mechanics are not as simple as they may seem to be.

I just say let the toolbox go. Any rescue of it would take too much time. I mean, it's probably just going to return with the space shuttle anyway. Especially if the gun malfunctioned.

Ivan3Man, "dry" lubricants still have to have some sort of bonder to apply to a surface in space.

The issue of losing the toolbox and the expensive tools is really a side issue. The possible future collision with a toolbag at orbital velocities is the big issue at hand and the real cost of the lost tools.

To Heidemarie I truely do feel sorry for you knowing there will be ceaseless jokes from the sexist female mechanic jokes to the sure to last Butterfingers moniker to which you have earned a perminent place as the foremost example until someone manages to do something better.