Linked Questions

24 votes
3 answers
9k views

If you release a tool outside the ISS in space will it remain at the "same" place forever?

If an astronaut doing a repair outside the International Space Station (ISS) gently lets go of a tool into space, will it keep "flying" (orbiting) at the same spot relative to the ISS where ...
André Dias's user avatar
28 votes
3 answers
7k views

How hard do you have to throw something off the ISS to make it deorbit?

During Expedition 41 Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst replaced a failed pump on the outside of the ISS. I am guessing they took the broken pump back inside the ISS and returned it to earth in one of ...
Wolter's user avatar
  • 383
7 votes
2 answers
961 views

What happens to a body, that has been exposed to vacuum, once brought back onboard?

You are on a ship in the cold vacuum of space. You find a body of an astronaut exposed to vacuum (for this instance just assume human, but you never know). The body was essentially freeze dried and ...
EveryBitHelps's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
799 views

Was this large pieces of "space junk" just released from the ISS in the "nadir and retrograde" direction?

According to Space.com's 02-Feb-2018 article Cosmonauts Break Russian Spacewalk Record During Space Station Antenna Repair: The cosmonauts spent the day replacing an electronics box for a high-gain ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
7 votes
1 answer
674 views

What are the orbital mechanical consideration behind hand-launched nanosatellites from the ISS?

The NASA Spaceflight article Extended Russian EVA complete – conducts satellite deployments says: The first order of the day was for Ryazanskiy to head into the manual deployment of five ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
5 votes
1 answer
414 views

What steel ball was thrown out of the ISS to help test how well ground stations can track orbital debris?

The question What kinds of things have been tossed out of the ISS? has a broken YouTube link. This is why it's good to include at least the name of the video in your post (which I didn't back in 2016)....
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
6 votes
1 answer
470 views

ROS is running on the Robonaut, but is the Robonaut running on the ISS (post 2015)?

I was reading about the Robot Operating System ROS, and in particular the 2014 ROS.org article ROS running on ISS and wondering if the Robonaut is being actively tested on the ISS. Do they take it out,...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
1 vote
1 answer
408 views

What would happen if you jumped out of a moving spacecraft?

I've watched a film where one of the characters claimed to have rapidly disembarked a moving spacecraft during a 5g burn (?!) and immediately wondered how he survived. For example, you're on a ...
Malekai's user avatar
  • 113
3 votes
1 answer
363 views

How was "toolbag-sat" imaged in space? (from Scott Manley's video)

In Scott Manley's video Could An Astronaut Throw Something From Orbit To Earth? at about 02:00 he includes a sequence of images that shows the famous tool bag that ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
3 votes
1 answer
137 views

Does this electronics box, or any other non-spacecraft released by astronauts have a TLE?

According to Space.com's 02-Feb-2018 article Cosmonauts Break Russian Spacewalk Record During Space Station Antenna Repair: The cosmonauts spent the day replacing an electronics box for a high-gain ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
3 votes
1 answer
134 views

Leaving the ISS orbit

Working on a project of sorts and I can't wrap my head around this at all., have a question regarding leaving the ISS orbit. If, let us say as an example, an astronaut jumped out of a capsule which ...
Heliosc7's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
64 views

What radar-trackable steel ball was thrown from the ISS before October 2015? [duplicate]

The question What kinds of things have been tossed out of the ISS? contains a now-rotted link to a YouTube video of a steel ball being thrown from the ISS for radar tracking tests. I'd sourced it from ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k