You have been hired to check the technical correctness of a TV show
where a space shuttle astronaut becomes stranded during a space walk.
The astronaut’s safety line has broken, and her thruster pack has been
damaged and no longer works. She is approximately 500 feet from the shuttle
and drifting away from it at about 2 ft/s. She estimates that she only
has about 10 minutes of air remaining in her tank. She decides to unstrap
her 10-kg tool kit and throw it away in an effort to change her momentum
and drift back to the shuttle. She estimates that the maximum speed
she can throw this tool kit is 7 m/s. Her mass, including the space suit,
is 80 kg. In the script, she survives, but is this reasonable?
What factor is most critical in determining her success or failure?