posted 08-02-2009 11:31 AM               

The ISS Toolbag is about to become a fireball. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped the backpack-sized kit on Nov. 18, 2008, while she was working outside the International Space Station. Eight months later, the toolbag is reentering Earth's atmosphere. Best estimates suggest a fireball over the south Pacific Ocean (35.7° S, 216.4° E) at around 1300 UT on August 3rd. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for last-chance flybys.

posted 08-03-2009 06:32 PM               

The $100,000 tool bag plunged toward Earth and burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Air Force's Joint Space Operations Center tracking it and more than 19,000 other pieces of space junk in orbit today from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

"Based on its size and composition, we expect the object to completely burn up before hitting the Earth," center officials said in a statement.