Nasa astronauts’ lost tool bag to be visible over Britain on Tuesday

A tool bag that was dropped by NASA astronauts carrying out a job on the International Space Station (ISS) will be visible to the UK this week.

Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara accidentally misplaced the bag while fixing a solar panel on the International Space Station (ISS), 2550 miles above the Earth, earlier this month.

Astronomers from the Virtual Telescope Project on the ground have since spotted the bag orbiting the planet a few minutes ahead of the ISS.

Experts say amateurs should be able to see the bag using binoculars or a telescope.

Depending on the weather, people in southern Britain have the highest chance of viewing the bag between 6.24pm and 6.34pm on Tuesday.

But the best time to look for it will be on November 24, between 5.30pm and 5.41pm. The Telegraph reported.

The bag has been classified as space junk and given the ID number 58229/ 1998-067WC.

Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa accidentally photographed the bag while he was trying to capture Mount Fuji from the ISS, as he passed his home country.

Afterwards, Ms Moghbeli told mission control: “In the most improbable of events, Satoshi was actually… taking photos of Mount Fuji and also captured a nice photo of a lost item, the nice crew lock bag from yesterday. It wanted to see Mount Fuji, I guess.”

In 2008, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost a tool bag while repairing a jammed gear on a solar panel.

The briefcase-sized item was visible ahead of the ISS for months after this.

This bag contained equipment including grease guns and scrapers.