Fed II Star - March 5, 2006

REAL LIFE NEWS: GOLF IN SPACE

Russian cosmonauts are hoping to set a new record for the longest golf drive ever made - they plan to hit a golf ball into orbit around Earth from the International Space Station. If NASA gives the go-ahead, the attempt will be made during one of the three spacewalks that are planned for this year. The ball will then travel millions of miles, and its progress will be tracked using global positioning transmitters as it gradually loses altitude because of drag from the atmosphere. It will then burn up and vanish.

The stunt is being sponsored by a Canadian golf company.

Hitting a golf ball from the ISS could cause problems. If the ball is not sent in the right direction, it could fall back onto the station or collide with it during a subsequent orbit - it will need to be hit out of the space station's orbit plane. It's also not going to be that easy for the cosmonaut golfer to hit the ball while wearing a spacesuit!

I have to wonder... why bother? This is obviously a publicity stunt on behalf of the sponsor, and if NASA is getting enough money from it then I guess that's the justification in itself. But couldn't they come up with a stunt that was a little more useful, or that taught us something about space?