Female astronaut drops 'handbag' in space*
A female astronaut has lost her 'handbag' in space while working on the International Space Station.
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper was forced to watch as her toolkit drifted off into space as she worked on the solar array system on the orbiting platform.
In a video recording of the incident Heidemarie can be heard to say "Oh, great," as the briefcase-sized tool bag moves out of her reach.
Despite losing the kit Heidemarie and colleagues were able to finish the seven-hour job by sharing tools.
* If you want a less sexist introduction replace the word 'handbag' with 'toolkit' and remember she is one of the few humans ever to travel into space.
NASA say they are not sure how the bag got loose as it should have been tethered to a larger equipment bag.
"Despite my little hiccup, or major hiccup, I think we did a good job out there," Stefanyshyn-Piper said when back on the space station.
The work she and fellow space walker Stephen Bowen were conducting was to grease a rotary joint on the station's giant starboard solar array system.
For the past year the joint has been unable to automatically point the solar wings toward the Sun for optimal energy production.
It was a shame there aren't more women on the ISS ... most of the ones I know carry enough stuff around in their handbags to fix a space station.
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