EVA toolkit loss

M wrote:
On Nov 19, 7:54 am, Pat Flannery wrote:
http://www.newsday.com/services/news...wednesday/nati...
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (by God, now _that's_ a name, isn't it? I
can't even pronounce the middle part)

Easy. Rhymes with "definition".

is probably going to catch hell
for not having the toolkit properly tethered to her...but if I was
EVAing and something inside my toolkit exploded, my first instinct would
be to toss that SOB as far away as possible as fast as possible. And if
it was tethered to me, I'd immediately release the tether on it.
Next question... is the toolkit going to get into some sort of odd orbit
that brings it back near the ISS from time to time?
They may want to fly it into the shuttle cargo bay (or grab it with the
Remote Manipulator Arm) and retrieve it before reentry.

Pat

Well, that bag containing important tools for the Solar Alpha Rotary
Joint is....Space History.
She will catch some flak from management (privately) for a serious
breach of EVA protocol.
Since this is her second flight (When she returned from her first
flight she passed out in public twice)
it will most likely be her last.

I doubt it. But most likely no one will be able to tell. It is too close
to the end of the shuttle program for her to get another shuttle
assignment. After that it depends on whether she wants to hang around
for Orion. If she doesn't, people will no doubt claim this EVA as a
factor. I don't think it will be. Everybody screws up, including
astronauts. Some screwups are, by their nature, more public than others.
What is more revealing is whether someone has the professionalism to
recover from a screwup, put it behind them, and finish the job, and I
can tell you a lot of people who count were impressed by Heide's recovery.