The sphere-shaped satellite was hand-launched at 18:29 UTC on August 20 during a Russian spacewalk. It is called Sfera and is also known as TEKh-44 and as Vektor-T. It is a steel ball with diameter 53 cm and mass 9.2 kg. It is to burn up in the atmospere 2 to 5 months from now.
It will be an interesting satellite for practicing decay predictions. It is object 38751 or 1998-067CM. 73, Nico PA0DLO On 2012-08-20 19:43, Mark L. Hammond wrote:
Okay--which small satellite is going to be released? I've lost track... from www.nasa.gov : "International Space Station Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency have begun a planned 6 1/2-hour spacewalk. The pair will move the Strela-2 hand-operated crane from the Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya module, preparing Pirs for its replacement with a new laboratory and docking module. They will also deploy a small satellite and install debris shields on the Zvezda module."
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