Golf in spaaaaaaaaaaaace!

May 24, 2006 9:21 PM

Though not the first time golf has been played in space, Russian cosmonauts are still planning to go ahead with the world's longest drive (3-4 years in orbit) from the International Space Station, as sponsored by the golf company Element 21 [link is to a rather neat CGI video of the shot, in wmv format. Coral Cache version.] The only problem -- it might hit the space station with the force of a 6.5 ton truck moving at 60 mph, though others are more worried about what the stunt means for the space program.
posted by blahblahblah (15 comments total)

You know what the space program really needs? Rock star astronauts. Let's face it: astronauts might be superathletes with 10 degrees who speak a dozen or so languages, but c'mon - GOLF? How square is that?
posted by slatternus at 9:29 PM on May 24, 2006

Skeet shooting: put the skeet in geostationary orbit, fire the shot in a decaying orbit, aim high, and wait 3-4 years until the skeet gets gets hit.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:34 PM on May 24, 2006

Zero-G football! ROOF ATTACK!
posted by loquacious at 9:42 PM on May 24, 2006

Golfrisbee would be much safer.
posted by tellurian at 9:47 PM on May 24, 2006

hmmm ... now what was the par on this hole again?
posted by pyramid termite at 10:06 PM on May 24, 2006

I find it hard to believe that a NASA scientist would predict a collision between ball and station. If both objects are in free orbit then they will be travelling at a relative speed equal to the initial drive, ie. not very fast by debris standards. Not to mention that having the ball achieve a trajectory level with the station is mind-bogglingly unlikely.
/grumble-grumble
posted by FissionChips at 10:18 PM on May 24, 2006

Wasteful, gimmicky, and depressing.

What happened to the time when the space program was viewed (and pursued) with some level of appropriate respect?
posted by stenseng at 10:29 PM on May 24, 2006

Hooray, Element 21 creates Space debris (also called Space junk).

What a bunch of losers. I'll never buy anything from them.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:38 PM on May 24, 2006

More space debris.

Yesterday I heard a scientist talk on radio about the dangers of two satellites colliding with a relative speed of 50 000 km/h, causing a major chain collision. I can't find any articles on the subject, though.
posted by klue at 11:56 PM on May 24, 2006

Americans are such pussies.
posted by c13 at 6:00 AM on May 25, 2006

Space is not supposed to be fun. It is supposed to dead, totally quiet, and boring. If space were fun, everyone would want to go there. Governments would be forced to spend more on space programs. Private enterprise would be more involved. We can't have that. More important to spend all that money blowing things up, burning cities and killing civilians.
posted by Goofyy at 7:22 AM on May 25, 2006

burning cities and killing civilians.

Aaahh.. but what if you kill civilians.. from space?
posted by Harry at 9:07 AM on May 25, 2006

Is this still technically the world's longest drive?
posted by spiderskull at 9:18 AM on May 25, 2006

Zero-G football! ROOF ATTACK!

Jim Bexly Speed is the best player in the history of the game.
posted by quin at 11:12 AM on May 25, 2006

I call upon all nations to do everything they can to help fund research in space. Thank you.

Now watch this drive!
posted by jscott at 9:21 PM on May 28, 2006