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The Future of Space Sports

Posted by Soulskill on from the enemy's-gate-is-down dept.

Loether writes "Space.com has a fun article about how astronauts aboard the ISS play 'sports' in zero gravity. It talks about learning how to throw in a straight line instead of the arc we all take for granted, relay races, and using large water filled bags as medicine balls. 'We realized that you could toss and catch and then go for a ride on this big thing as it takes you away.' The astronauts also put out a request for new ideas for space sports. Have any suggestions?"

6 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. Run around the tanks? by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Jogging around the water tanks à la Skylab maybe?

  2. Flying by David+Frankenstein · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read it somewhere one time. Give me some wings and Zero-G, and I can use them to 'swim' if I can push enough air around. Would be even more fun with Small-G.

  3. Re:Clever "Dept." by Ironsides · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Speaking of which. If they want Zero G and low G sports, I suggest reading through the Science Fiction section a bit. The Enders Game battles were some of the first to pop into my mind. Then there are the human butterfly (strap wings to yourself and fly) sports on the moon from "This place has no atmosphere". There was one in the Tom Swift series that started with "The City in the Stars". I'll have to reread it to check what it was about. Some form of low G basketball if I remember right. There was another series that had a sport where you tried to get around the (quite large) station as fast as you could. You used tow ropes to pull yourself along by realing in your line by hand. A relay/sprint in zero G if you will.

    --
    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  4. Re:Aloft? by bostongraf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And can it be considered a world record if it takes place outside of Earth's atmosphere?

  5. Two man juggling by myxiplx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well you can't very well juggle on your own in space, and I doubt Nasa would appreciate you bouncing balls off all the equipment, but you could probably learn to juggle 5 balls between two people.

    Of course the trick is to work out a path where the balls won't collide, and to learn the direction to throw them in, but it'd make for a great publicity video if they worked it out :D

  6. Re:basketball by bennomatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You're totally right on. There was a time that a significant portion of pro basketball players were Jewish, too. Was it because of cultural or economic reasons? No, of course not. Sports pundits of the time indicated that shorter men would be better at basketball because they would have greater balance and agility... A quick Google search on "jews in basketball" reveals that and other interesting statements.

    --
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