Earth Has A New Satellite

NASA Space Station Status Report 23 November 2006

“Tyurin’s golf shot was part of a demonstration for a commercially sponsored endeavor between a Canadian golf company and the Russian Federal Space Agency. The golf club and three balls were flown to the station on recent Russian Progress cargo ships. NASA’s safety analysis showed that the balls will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in about three days. The balls weigh only about as much as three one-dollar bills.”

What a shot! A golf drive in a spacewalk really soars, but how far is the question, AP

“That drive went 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) or will by the time it eventually comes down in a couple years said Nataliya Hearn, the president of Element 21 Golf Company. The Toronto firm is paying the cash-starved Russian space agency an undisclosed amount for the golf stunt to promote its new golf club that includes a space-program-derived metal. That’s a huge exaggeration, according to NASA’s lead spacewalk flight director, Holly Ridings. She said NASA’s calculations are that golf balls would only stay up two to three days, which would put the drive closer to a mere million miles (1.6 million kilometers).”

Editor’s note: Either NASA’s orbital mechanics math is (way) off or Element 21 Golf openly uses false information in its advertisements.