Astronaut Loses Tool Bag During Repair

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n5wd said:
One of the articles I've read said that Station loses about 300 feet (90 meters) a day. Judging from this chart:

iss-altitude.gif


it looks like every two to three months or so, they do a burn to raise the altitude.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
I see from the NASA site, a re-boost will occur today:

HTML: 
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
 
Dr.Zooch said:
...BTW- I read the checklist(s) and the only thing it says is that to open the bag and check its contents. However... teathering may be a general proceedure that applys to everything (such is common in aviation). I'm not making excuses here, nor arguing with anyone here- and I do not have access to everything- teathering could be a part of standard training as well. In looking through the checklists, I saw that almost every illustration had several teather points on every piece of hardware....
Click to expand...
Look, she said she screwed up. The bag should not have gotten away. Give her all the wiggle room you want, but it should not have happened. Read the articles I posted.

While I hope it does not impact her career, it will always be with her. Look at how much press coverage it has gotten. Until someone comes along and makes a bigger mistake, she's at the top of the list.

Astronauts are like brain surgeons. They're not supposed to make mistakes.


tms
 
Huge Blues said:
Interesting.
I see from the NASA site, a re-boost will occur today
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been playing NASA-TV's coverage of the ISS/Endeavour mission on the projector, today, while the kids are working on their scripts and storyboards... but it was kinda a non-event, visually, since they were using the slow-push Reaction Control System jets. There was one brief look at one of the jets, and you could barely tell anything was happening, but everyone seemed to be happy with the results, most of all the Russian flight planners who are trying to figure out how the Progress is going to get to Station next week!
 
n5wd said:
...everyone seemed to be happy with the results, most of all the Russian flight planners who are trying to figure out how the Progress is going to get to Station next week!
Click to expand...

Huh? Why? What did I miss?
 
I'm pretty sure that the first article I read about this situation also mentioned a prior screwup that this astronaut did. I don't remember the details now, but do remember that it was the second unfortunate situation she's had.
 
Some good quotes I found...

"Time to rendezvous with that orbiting "Snap-on-Tools" truck!"

"Well this is just great.... some aliens are going to find that bag just floating around in space and will get all our tool technology and use it to destroy us."

"Well at least they didn't lock their keys inside with the engine running! But hey, they've probably got Onstar..."

"Ouch! A big screwdriver just dropped out of the sky, crashed through my roof and hit me on the head!"

"$100 k for a tool bag. Let's see, I owe the IRS approx. $20 k so based on those numbers, I guess I can send them a Black and Decker Drill, a screwdriver and hammer and call it even."
 
BoosterDude said:
I have to disagree, it was no accident. Simple fact is she didn't tether the bag.
Click to expand...

It was not her job to tether the bag. While she did not check to see whether
it was tethered or not it was another persons job to actually do the tethering.
Check the duty list.

William
 
I wonder if Heidimarie is aware that TRF has completely dissected her career? :)
 
Spaceweather.com has this to say about the tool bag.

The tool bag is surprisingly bright, about 6th or 7th magnitude, which makes it an easy target for binoculars or a small telescope. Today's edition of https://spaceweather.com offers observing tips, sighting reports and a movie of the bag in orbit.
Click to expand...
 
Caught part of a press conference on NASA TV this morning, with the ISS/Endeavour crew. Naturally the tool bag incident came up, and the response was basically, stuff happens.
 

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