MMeM, Vol.13 Issue 22 – Woopsy Daisy!
Things like this only surprise me in that they didn’t happen to me. This kind of thing is the type of accident that defines my day to day life. When I try to do something pro-active, or when I go out of my way to prevent something bad from happening, inevitably I end up not only failing at the prevention, but actually making a situation worse. Thus proving to myself that perhaps, being re-active isn’t always a bad stance to take.
Dateline – Thursday, March 30, 2017, 250 miles above Earth, in space.
Two astronauts were outside of the International Space Station (ISS) on spacewalks to install a debris shield. Of course this is a much needed piece of equipment these days as it’s estimated that there are upwards of “21,000 pieces of orbiting trash and debris” floating around in the orbit of Earth.
Unfortunately, astronauts Peggy Whitson and Shane Kimbrough, had to report back to ground control that a bag containing the debris shield floated away. The shield was 1.5m, or about 5ft, long and now makes it one of the 21,001 pieces of orbiting trash and debris floating around in the orbit of Earth.
To be fair, the pair of astronauts did get 3 other debris shields installed before losing the 4th one into the darkness of space.
Good thing, because the ISS is going to need those 3 shields now more than ever.