Not all space junk comes from discarded rocket stages and defunct satellites. In some cases, the objects fell from astronauts' own hands. According to NASA's official Gemini X mission page, astronaut Michael Collins lost his camera when conducting an extravehicular activity in July 1966. Then the experiment he had gone outside to retrieve slipped away from him again on his way back inside the spacecraft. This is a small but memorable detail from one of NASA's more ambitious Gemini missions. However, it says a lot about the state of spacewalk technology in 1966. Astronauts did not move around freely like they do today. They had to learn as they went.
What actually happened on Collins' spacewalk
