Instead of talking about the horrible Raptor game and all the turnovers we watched tonight, we decided to focus on other people having trouble keeping possession of the rock. You may want to keep an eye out for weird shit falling from the sky because astronauts have a sick sense of humour.

On Tuesday, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper accidentally let go of her tool bag after a grease gun inside it exploded outside the International Space Station. The tote bag, containing two grease guns, a putty knife and cloth mitts, was one of the largest items ever to be lost by a spacewalker.

Yeah sure she “let go”. It is like when you are on top of a building and you want to drop a penny but your parents won’t let you. At least what they drop does not turn into layups and jumpers at the other end.

The funny thing is Stefanyshyn-Piper isn’t the first person to drop something in space. Bulky gloves and weightlessness have led to a history of some clumsy moments at NASA. Sounds like what the Raptors were wearing on their hands.

Here are some recent examples of astronauts “accidentally” adding to the thousands of pieces of junk already in space. I guess we should be thankful that all this crap won’t actually ever reach us.

  • During a September 2006 spacewalk, astronaut Joe Tanner, working outside the space station with Stefanyshyn-Piper, accidentally released a bolt, spring and washer.
  • During a July 2006 spacewalk, astronauts Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum lost a 35-centimetre spatula while testing a method to repair the space shuttle.
  • During a March 2001 spacewalk to mount important equipment to the International Space Station, a foot attachment used to anchor spacewalkers to the end of the space shuttle Discovery’s robotic arm managed to float free from astronaut Jim Voss and was lost in space. Later in the mission, Discovery’s thrusters had to be fired to move the spacecraft to a higher orbit to dodge the menacing piece of space junk.

If you really need to read about the Raptors loss to the Magic, head over to Raptors Republic because they will be ranting for sure.

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