The moment a NASA astronaut dropped a tool bag worth a reported $100,000 has gone viral, after the error was captured on the space agency's live broadcast.
Two NASA astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, were conducting a rare all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station.
Moghbeli and O'Hara were assigned to carry out external maintenance on the station on November 1.
In a now viral blunder from the walk, Moghbeli's helmet camera captured the moment the pair let the tool bag slip from their grip, allowing it to drift into space.
Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were conducting a rare all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station
NASA
The pair successfully replaced hardware on the station’s solar array, which generates the energy needed to power the space craft.
During the task, the bag can be seen in the bottom left of Moghbeli's helmet camera, slipping off of the space station surface and into the zero-gravity atmosphere.
One astronaut's hand can be seen attempting to reclaim the bag, reaching out and trying to grab it.
The pair were unsuccessful in reclaiming the bag and it is now in Earth's atmosphere, according to keen trackers.
Moghbeli and O’Hara finished their monumental spacewalk after six hours and 42 minutes.
In a statement, NASA said: "Mission Control analysed 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 bag is predicted to remain in earth's orbit for a few months, and expected to descend and disintegrate in our atmosphere.
The loose bag is now orbiting Earth several minutes ahead of the ISS, at around 17,000mph.
NASA
NASA has confirmed that the tool bag is now “inadvertently lost". Flight controllers were able to spot the bag using external station cameras.
The loose bag is now orbiting Earth several minutes ahead of the ISS, at around 17,000mph.
Experts have claimed it may be possible to spot the bag through binoculars or a telescope, because the white surface strongly reflects the sun’s rays.
It has been classified as "space junk" and given the ID number 58229/ 1998-067WC.
