NASA recently reported that astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, who took part in the first of the mission's four planned spacewalks from the space shuttle, let slip her tool bag during a spacewalk on Tuesday and watched helplessly as it floated off into space.

She had just begun to work on a jammed joint on a solar panel of the International Space Station (ISS) when the accident occurred.

Live images were transmitted by NASA Television that showed the tool bag, with all the tools inside, slipping away, following when Stefanyshyn-Piper removed grease that had leaked out of a grease gun onto the bag's contents.

However, the Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston informed that the mission to work on the ISS's solar antenna rotation system would continue.

Following this incident, Stefanyshyn-Piper borrowed tools from her companion spacewalker Steve Bowen, who also carried the same contents in his bag. She got back to her work on the rotation system ball bearings around 2033 GMT Tuesday. The spacewalk was carried out just the way it was planned, if the episode of tool mishap is not counted.

The lost objects are tracked by NASA close to the ISS and the space shuttle, for the reason that they can have adverse affects if they later collide with the spaceship.

NASA reported, "The spacewalk, the first of four planned for the mission, ended successfully at 0101 GMT Wednesday. The spacewalk lasted six hours, 52 minutes, just two minutes more than scheduled."