Astronauts lose part of the Space Station after it floats away on spacewalk

Astronauts lost an important piece of cloth shielding for the International Space Station after it floated away while two astronauts were on a spacewalk.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson radioed in to report that a piece was missing – and NASA is to monitor the cloth bundle to ensure it doesn’t come back and hit the station.

The cloth shielding is used to protect the station against micrometeorites from space – and astronauts Whitson and Shane Kimbrough were conducting a spacewalk to install four pieces of it.

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NASA spokesman Dan Huot said that the three remaining shields were installed successfully, and the astronauts installed the cover of the docking port as a makeshift shield.

Whitson radioed in, ‘You guys came up with a fantastic plan — on short notice. That’s amazing.’

The spacewalk was Whitson’s eighth – the most ever performed by a woman, and making her the third-most-experienced spacewalker of all time.

Whitson has now logged 59 hours, behind Anatoly Solovyev, who has 68 hours and astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria, who has 67.