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Caught on film: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's NASA's lost tool kit crossing the night sky!

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



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When NASA astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost a tool bag during a space walk last week, it seemed we had seen the last of that gear.

But amateur astronomer Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, appears to have tracked it down, using coordinates from the U.S. military, according to the Toronto Star. He filmed the sack using a home telescope—it looks like a bright star darting across the night sky. NASA expects the tool kit, now just another piece of space debris, to burn up during re-entry in a matter of months.