Two astronauts replacing a part outside the International Space Station (ISS) have lost a bag of tools that has begun to drift aimlessly like space junk.

The arrangement, performed on November 2, lasted almost seven hours for the NASA astronauts. Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara. Shortly after returning to the massive station from Earth, flight controllers discovered through remote cameras that they had left the tool bag outside.

According to CNN, the object has been visible since last Tuesday the 21st and will be seen in the skies of Great Britain and Europe in the coming weeks.

Moghbeli and O’Hara had to replace one of the twelve bearing assemblies in the “Port Alpha Solar Rotary Joint” and remove a handle to install a deployable solar panel. Unfortunately, when the work was done, they lost the tools, which NASA engineers say happened They pose no risk to the orbital laboratory.

According to EarthSkya website that tracks cosmic events, the toolbag is currently orbiting Earth and may be observable from Earth with binoculars in the coming months until it disintegrates in our planet’s atmosphere.

Observers say the object is still orbiting the Earth in front of the station, at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour, and it appears that could stay in orbit for a few months before losing altitude and falling apart.

In September 2023, the International Space Station published a curious and worrying figure: Surveillance networks cataloged at least 35,290 pieces of debris hanging around Earth, the combined weight of which was 11,000 tons. What’s commonly called “space junk,” National Geographic recalls. (JO)