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I thought that we were still at the point where NASA knew every single object on the ISS because they analyse and test[1] everything? So surely they knew this was there - why didn't they send it back down when they changed laptops?

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/wstf/testing_and_analysis/mater...

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There is so much stuff packed inside the space station and there's such a high likelihood of things getting lost (you can't just set something down on a table and expect it to be there when you come back) that it's not surprising that things like this show up occasionally. This may have been on a lost items list for long enough that it was assumed to have been trashed at some point. Or perhaps it was still on a lost items list. Every item is tracked, and the inventory managers do a great job tracking it, but some items slip through the cracks... particularly items from 20 years ago.

> some items slip through the cracks

For reference, go to eBay and type in the word "flown".

This is fascinating. I almost made an impulse purchase.

Didn't know I could own fragments of Kapton tape from Apollo-11 or a part of the tail fin from the first successful Falcon 9 landing.

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