Wrist mirror
A spacewalker cannot see the front of the Displays and Control Module while wearing the spacesuit. To see the controls, astronauts wear a wrist mirror on the sleeve. Look at the settings on the front of the module. They are written backward. But "backward" is "forward" in a mirror.
Text & image: NASA
An astronaut has dropped a small mirror into space by accident, Nasa has said.
Commander Chris Cassidy lost control of the mirror while leaving the International Space Station for a spacewalk to work on batteries, and it floated away at about a foot per second, the space agency said.
The object is now just one part of the vast amount of space junk that is in orbit around the Earth.
Cassidy had been conducting an otherwise uneventful spacewalk with Bob Behnken, who arrived at the space station on board a SpaceX craft last month.
Mission Control said the mirror somehow became detached from Cassidy's spacesuit. The lost item posed no risk to the astronauts, spacewalk or the station, Nasa said.
Spacewalking astronauts wear a wrist mirror on each sleeve to get better views while working. The mirror is just 5 inches by 3 inches, and together with its band has a mass of barely one-tenth of a pound.
Text: Independent.co.uk
Detail from the JSC high-resolution scan of AS16-108-17744 showing John Young's wrist mirror strapped on his right wrist, just above his thumb. This image is one of two incidental exposures Charlie Duke got while advancing the film on his magazine before inserting a dark slide and replacing the magazine before they leave Station 9.
Labelled detail from AS16-108-17628 showing John Young's watchband secured around his right wrist, with both his watch and wrist mirror attached. See, also, a detail from AS16-108-17744
Detail from AS17-141-21608, showing Gene's watch and watchband on his left arm, above his cuff checklist; and what is almost certainly a Velcro strap on his right arm for his wrist mirror, with the mirror out of sight.
Credits: NASA