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Space Shuttle Atlantis Will Carry Basketballs Into Space

Posted by samzenpus on from the meaningless-publicity-stunt dept.

Having figured out everything there is to know about space, and being huge fans of Space Jam, NASA has left some of their sciencey stuff behind and made room for a pair of basketballs on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. One of the balls comes courtesy of The Harlem Globetrotters, and the other is on loan from the University of Chicago. It was used by Edwin Hubble in a 1909 victory against Indiana University. "It is only fitting that the team that has seen more of the world than any other in history would have a presence beyond the stratosphere," Globetrotters chief executive officer Kurt Schneider said in a news release.

4 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Seems wrong to me by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because the old ball did not have an air valve, Grunsfeld cut it open and discovered it was filled with fiber packing material. The stuffing was removed so the ball would take up as little room as possible aboard space shuttle Atlantis.

    That just seems wrong to me. They actually damaged something nearly 100 years old just to make it smaller. It could just be me, but they should have just taken it into space the way it was without damaging it. Seems shameful to me.

    1. Re:Seems wrong to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even if it wasn't a relic like that, what's the point in taking deflated basketballs in to orbit? What does it accomplish/test/prove?

    2. Re:Seems wrong to me by swillden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That just seems wrong to me. They actually damaged something nearly 100 years old just to make it smaller. It could just be me, but they should have just taken it into space the way it was without damaging it. Seems shameful to me.

      There are lots of old basketballs around. The thing that was special about this one was that Edwin Hubble had used it..

      Do you think Hubble would have minded that "his" ball had to be deflated in order for it to go into space? This was a man who spent his life studying the Universe, but who died before mankind had even managed to put an object in orbit.

      I think he'd consider it amazingly cool that the ball he played with went into space along with astronauts doing repair work on the space-based telescope named after him.

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  2. What's the point again? by srussia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Deflate Globetrotters ball

    2. Cut open century-old ball

    3. Send up to space and bring back.

    4. ...

    5. What exactly?

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