Posted: Tue, Feb 17, 2004, 6:06 PM ET (2306 GMT)
A small object, believed to be a bolt from a docked Progress spacecraft, was seen floating away from the International Space Station on Sunday, MSNBC reported Tuesday. The ISS crew saw the small metallic object, about five centimeters long, float away from the station on Sunday; the object was moving slow enough to give the crew time to photograph the object. Engineers analyzing the photos believe the object to be a bolt and washer assembly that came loose from one of the solar panels on the Progress spacecraft that docked with the ISS late last month. MSNBC reported that the crew will use a camera mounted on the station's robot arm to check the Progress on Wednesday to confirm that the debris came from that vehicle. This is the second time in less than two weeks that the ISS crew observed debris floating away from the station: on February 6 astronauts reported seeing a larger, unidentified object drift away.

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•  MSNBC article