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Originally posted by worldwatcher
question... if it's part of the shuttle or debris from the space station, how is it staying in orbit with the shuttle? wouldn't it just fall away and eventually down? What size would it have to be in order for it to stay up and in an orbit and not just enter the atmosphere and burn up?
Mission Control later reported that another bolt, similar to the one that went missing during Tuesday's spacewalk, was lost Wednesday.
MacLean told Mission Control that he was removing a cover on the rotary joint when one of the four bolts he needed disappeared.
"I did not see it go," MacLean said. "I'm looking to see if anything is floating."
MacLean ran into another small problem a short time later when an extension on his pistol-grip power tool broke while he was trying to remove a restraint on the rotary joint.
LINK
Originally posted by worldwatcher
question... if it's part of the shuttle or debris from the space station, how is it staying in orbit with the shuttle? wouldn't it just fall away and eventually down? What size would it have to be in order for it to stay up and in an orbit and not just enter the atmosphere and burn up?
posted by TG
Its impossible for it to be space debris, it would burn up in the earths atmosphere. Space debris doesnt follow the space shuttle around at 17,500 mph. It would have to have come from the space shuttle if its not a craft of some kind.
Originally posted by TG
Its impossible for it to be space debris, it would burn up in the earths atmosphere. Space debris doesnt follow the space shuttle around at 17,500 mph. It would have to have come from the space shuttle if its not a craft of some kind.
Originally posted by Zaphod58
Originally posted by TG
Its impossible for it to be space debris, it would burn up in the earths atmosphere. Space debris doesnt follow the space shuttle around at 17,500 mph. It would have to have come from the space shuttle if its not a craft of some kind.
On the contrary, for at least several days or even weeks it DOES travel at that speed. It keeps the speed it was travelling at until atmospheric friction slows it down, but that takes time to occur.
Originally posted by lost_shaman
However, there was another report from the ISS last week of an "unknown object" that was not reported in the News.
NASA shut down ventilation aboard the International Space Station and its astronauts donned surgical gloves and masks after a bad odour alerted them to a chemical leak, the agency said.
“The situation has stabilised and it has been reported back down by the crew that there were never any smoke in the cabin, however there was a smell associated with KOH” (potassium hydroxide),” American ISS manager Mike Suffredini said.
“It's an irritant, it's not a life-threatening material, and at no time did the crew had to put on the gas mask or the oxygen mask.”