CAPE CANAVERAL - A
spacewalking Russian cosmonaut plans to hit a golf shot outside the
International Space Station this summer as part of a publicity campaign that
already has raised safety concerns.
Clad in a cumbersome
spacesuit and anchored to a specially designed tee box, Pavel
Vinogradov will hit a six-iron drive along side the station's Russian
segment, taking great care not to hook the ball into the outpost.
Nataliya Hearn, president
and chief executive officer of Element 21 Golf Co., said Russian Federal Space
Agency officials initially were concerned that fragile solar panels jutting
from the station's Russian crew quarters might be struck.
But an extensive Russian
test program -- one involving veteran
cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev -- subsequently showed the golf shot in space
would be safe, Hearn said.
"If they were not
confident that there would not be any safety issues with the structural
components of the International Space Station, they would never have gone ahead
and approved the full mission," she said.
NASA managers are aware of
the plans and are reviewing the safety issues.
The ball is expected to
remain in orbit for three to four years.
Space debris is one of the
most dangerous threats to the station.
Even a tiny fragment of
aluminum would strike with the same force as a rifle bullet. A hit from debris
the size of a golf ball flying at six miles per second could be catastrophic.
Previous NASA risk analyses
show there is a one in 200 chance in any given year of losing the $100 billion
station to a debris hit that penetrates the hull of the outpost.
Based in Toronto, Element
21 manufactures golf clubs made of Scandium, a metal alloy used to build
Russian MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets and Russian segments of the station. The
alloy is lighter and stronger than titanium, graphite or steel.
A "launch
platform" was developed along with a spring-like space tee that would hold
a golf ball in weightlessness yet release it when struck, Hearn said.
Engineers also had to
determine the best place to mount the platform, and the best direction to drive
the ball, to avoid hitting the station, Hearn said.
A gold-plated Element 21
six-iron and several golf balls were hauled to the station last September on a
Russian space freighter. The golf shot tentatively is slated to take place
during a spacewalk in late July.
The ball is expected to
travel up to 2.1 billion miles before it drops back into the atmosphere and
burns up.
"In essence, it's
going to be the longest drive ever hit," company spokesman Joe Wieczorek
said.
Element 21 is linking the
drive to moonwalker Alan Shepard's golf outing during the Apollo
14 mission 35 years ago this month.
Hearn declined to disclose
the value of the company's contract with the Russian space agency. The ball is
equipped with transmitters that will enable golfers to follow its flight around
the world at the company's Web site, www.e21golf.com. Video from the shot also will be used in a
television commercial.
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