ISS Russian cosmonaut to play golf in outer space

Moscow, Nov 16 (UNI) Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin at the International Space Station (ISS) will play golf in outer space, next week, for the first time in history.

Announcing this, spokesman for the Russian Space Agency Igor Panarin today said the stunt, scheduled for the night of November 22-23, will remind the exploit of American astronaut Alan Shepard, who played golf on the Moon in 1971 during the Apollo 14 mission.

''During his space walk, Mikhail Tyurin will send a ball in the direction opposite to the ISS at a velocity of one meter per second (three feet per second),'' Panarin told RIA Novosti news agency.

Tyurin's partner on the 14th international mission to the ISS, American Michael Lopez-Alegria, will photograph and videotape the moment.

The stunt could have taken place during the previous ISS mission of Russian Pavel Vinogradov and American Jeff Williams, but NASA decided then to put it off for safety reasons.

''A ball sent into outer space could boomerang at the ISS, but at a far higher speed,'' an official at Russia's mission control center outside Moscow quoted US experts as saying at the time.

''The Americans have now changed their view,'' he said.

According to Russian experts, the golf ball will pose no danger to the ISS or orbiting satellites as it will be space garbage. It will be put on a separate orbit, making any collision impossible, and will later burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

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