Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will in all likelyhood set a new record for the longest golf drive when he tees off from the international space station next week. The tee-shot is a promotional stunt for Element 21 golf which makes the club that the cosmonaut will use. The Canadian company is keeping tight-lipped about how much they are paying the Russians, they hope to use the stunt in a commercial.

 

 

The big question is how far will the ball travel before it enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up. NASA says that this should happen within 3 days but according to the CEO of Element 21 the Russians say that ball will remain in orbit for 3.5 years. (someone calculate the total distance travelled please :) )

If the latter is true then there may be some reason for concern, the ball will be travelling fast enough to damage the IIS if there was a collision. NASA however is standing by its assertion that the ball will fall to Earth within 3 days and is confident that the stunt poses no danger to the station or its crew.

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