msnbc - Spacesuit goes overboard for unusual mission

Spacesuit goes overboard for unusual mission

Worn-out suit recycled into miniature satellite sending out a radio beacon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11102068/

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC

Updated: 2:52 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2006

HOUSTON - It sounds like a scene from science fiction: A lone figure is
cast off from the space station, getting smaller and smaller as it drifts
out into empty space.

In this case, however, no human will actually be at risk. When the crew
members aboard the international space station toss a worn-out spacesuit
over the side, it will be empty except for an interesting amateur radio
experiment.

During a spacewalk scheduled this Friday, astronaut Bill McArthur and
cosmonaut Valery Tokarev will spend six hours carrying out assembly, repair
and inspection work on the space station - and one photogenic feat of "space
littering."

It won't be the first time an old Russian spacesuit has been tossed
overboard, but "SuitSat," as it is called, has an actual mission.

etc etc