<br><div><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el" aria-label="Video - Why a cloud of 'space junk' orbiting Earth endangers future flight, our world's technology"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Somewhere hurtling more than 200 miles above the planet's surface <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/astro_meganne/status/1721297966999236802" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">is one of Earth's newest satellites</a>: a tool bag, and it's possible you might be able to spot it with a telescope or good pair of binoculars if you know where to look.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The white, satchel-like tool bag <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/11/10/how-to-find-tool-bag-from-international-space-station-dropped-by-nasa-astronauts/71522477007/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">slipped away from two astronauts</a> during <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/11/01/nasa-live-all-female-spacewalk-iss-watch/71404980007/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">a rare, all-female spacewalk</a> Nov. 1 as they performed maintenance on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">International Space Station</a>, according to social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) from <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/planet4589" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">scientists</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/astro_meganne" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">other experts</a> familiar with the situation.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">While there's no official word whether the tool bag contained a 10 mm socket wrench, the bag was spotted floating over Mount Fuji last week by Japanese astronaut <a target="_blank" href="https://humans-in-space.jaxa.jp/en/astronaut/furukawa-satoshi/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">Satoshi Furukawa</a>. Now <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/videos/tech/2023/04/28/space-junk-orbital-debris-threatens-future-flights-earths-technology/11760796002/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">space junk</a>, it has since been <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1721282347805393330" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">catalogued with the ID</a>: 58229 / 1998-067WC.</p><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em_tw" data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="loadTwitter" aria-label="X Embed" data-v-id="1721297966999236802"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Sadly it's not the first tool bag lost in space. In November 2008, Endeavor astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost a grip on her backpack-sized tool kit while cleaning up a mess from a leaking grease gun, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/6160-backyard-skywatchers-find-tool-bag-lost-space.html" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">according to space.com</a>.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">That tool bag, valued at $100,000, circled the planet for months <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/7088-tool-bag-lost-space-meets-fiery.html" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">until meeting its fiery end</a> after plunging to Earth and disintegrating. Experts believe last week's missing tool bag will share the same fate as it hurtles in the upper atmosphere, which has become increasingly littered.</p><aside aria-label="advertisement" class="gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">As of September 2023, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">European Space Agency estimates</a> 11,000 tons of space objects are orbiting Earth. That includes up to 36,500 pieces of debris greater than 10 cm, objects that could...</p></div> <style> .wrapper { text-align: center; } </style> <div class="wrapper"> <a class="button" href ="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/11/10/nasa-tool-bag-dropped-by-astronauts-international-space-station/71536725007/">Read more <span>➤</span></a> </div>
