Astronauts Lose Spatula In Space; Shuttle Returns Today

HOUSTON -- Ever rummage through your kitchen drawers, wondering what you did with the spatula?

That's sort of what happened in space Wednesday.

While out on a spacewalk, one of the shuttle Discovery astronauts was using a spatula to spread some sealant. Then, all of a sudden, it was gone -- nowhere to be found.

Don't worry about it crashing down on your head here on Earth. NASA said stuff has been lost before during spacewalks and nothing bad ever happened.

The spatula was being used as the astronauts tested some new repair techniques that might someday be needed to fix the shuttle. They squeezed out a putty-like sealant, then patted it down. But bubbles kept appearing, which slowed the whole thing down.