Russian set for space golf shot

[stubacca68]

taken from the BBC website

A Russian cosmonaut is set to make golfing history when he tees off from a precarious perch outside the International Space Station (ISS).
Flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin will stand on a ladder by the docking port and hit a light-weight ball using a gold-plated six-iron club.

A Canadian golf club maker is paying the Russian space agency an undisclosed sum for the stunt.

Experts disagree on how far the ball will travel in space.

Sponsor Element 21 Golf says it will fly for 3 years, while NASA says it will more likely fall into the earth's atmosphere and burn up within three days
Mr Tyurin, who has only played golf twice in his life, was confident ahead of the spacewalk.

"I play ice hockey and my understanding is that it is very similar," he said.

He will tap the ball, which is one-tenth the weight of a normal golf ball, using only one arm due to the confines of the bulky space suit.

Station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, who is accompanying Mr Tyurin, will set up a camera to film the shot for a forthcoming television commercial.
The stunt is one of several that the Russian space agency has permitted as a way of raising money.

Pizza Hut has been allowed to put its logo on a rocket and paying tourists have been brought to the station.

The plan was stalled for months while NASA - barred by US law from raising private funding - made sure the ball would not come back and hit the station.

But NASA flight director Holly Ridings said it was safe. "There is absolutely no re-contact issue with the space station," she said.

Although a likely record breaker in terms of distance, it will not be the first golf stroke in space.

US astronaut Alan Shepard took a shot while on the surface of the moon as commander of Apollo 14 in 1971

I am well jealous of this! how cool would it be to do this? but more importantly how far will it go?

beat that Tiger

[Rocol]

Lol, a novel idea, but it will be interesting to see the results

[Setarime]

Be interesting to see how long the shot stays up, maybe if they are trying to raise money they could have a no uniform day or a sponsored space walk

[TGLucario]

ROFL...i've heard of space jam, but space golf? HAH, what ever next