SuitSat-1: A Spacesuit Floats Free
Image Credit:
ISS Expedition 12 Crew,
NASA
A spacesuit floated away from the
International Space Station 15 years ago,
but no investigation was conducted.
Everyone knew that it was pushed by the
space station crew.
Dubbed
Suitsat-1, the unneeded Russian Orlan spacesuit filled mostly with
old clothes
was fitted with a faint
radio transmitter
and released to orbit the Earth.
The suit
circled the Earth twice before its
radio signal became unexpectedly weak.
Suitsat-1 continued to orbit every 90 minutes
until it burned up in the
Earth's atmosphere after a few weeks.
Pictured, the lifeless spacesuit was photographed in 2006 just as it
drifted away from
space station.