Free Republic

Explanation: A spacesuit floated away from the International Space Station eight years ago, but no investigation was conducted. Everyone knew that it pushed by the space station crew. Dubbed Suitsat-1, the unneeded Russian Orlan spacesuit filled mostly with old clothes was fitted with a faint radio transmitter and released to orbit the Earth. The suit circled the Earth twice before its radio signal became unexpectedly weak. Suitsat-1 continued to orbit every 90 minutes until it burned up in the Earth's atmosphere after a few weeks. Pictured above, the lifeless spacesuit was photographed in 2006 just as it drifted away from...

Sometime this year, an old Russian spacesuit — tossed overboard from the international space station this month — will make its final, fiery dive into the Earth's atmosphere. Within seconds, Suit-Sat — alias Ivan Ivanovich, alias NORAD Object No. 28933 — will be toast and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network will have one less piece of space junk to surveil. Ditto for Object No. 28934, aka Ivan's glove, which broke off when the suit was shoved out the station's air lock. At the moment, 9,233 pieces of space junk are being tracked in Earth orbit. But that tally only covers...