Cosmonaut Hits Golf Ball in Space Fundraising Stunt

Both the Russian space program and astro-geophysics have had better days. A lifetime ago, a little Russian pup named Laika became the first earthling to slip “the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God.” Thanks to the research that followed, humanity has learned more about the universe in the last half century that in all of history before that. Yet, as Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin hit a golf ball into orbit from the International Space Station yesterday, one clearly felt that the legacy of Gagarin and Armstrong has turned to ashes.

Erwin Seba of Reuters reported, “Canadian golf club maker Element 21 Golf Co. paid the cash-strapped Russian space agency an undisclosed amount of money for Tyurin’s golf exhibition, which was filmed for a future commercial.” It took him 16 minutes to set up the shot – almost as fast as some foursomes in Florida’s retirement communities. The ball weighed 3 grams and was made from foam rubber for safety. Cosmonaut Tyurin has played golf just twice in his life. Still, his shot is the farthest in history. At last, there is a value to microgravity.

This is not, however, the first golf shot in space. Alan Shepard, the first American in space (but not in orbit, as he didn’t circle the Earth for a full circuit), took a golf club up on Apollo 14. His shot from the lunar surface was said to have been the inspiration for Element 21, which wanted to commemorate the 35th anniversary of that shot.

The Russian space program has been reduced to such scams for raising money because the Russian Federation can’t keep up the funding that the Soviet Union could. Pepsi once paid $5 million to float a can of soda outside the Mir station (empty because the vacuum of space would have caused a filled can to pop). Pizza Hut got to paint its logo on a Russian rocket and even deliver pizza to the ISS. And the idle rich can always take a Russian capsule up for some space tourism.

Not that the Russian efforts should be mocked. They remain the most experienced in space flight, lunar landings notwithstanding. Moreover, since the US shuttle program is such a mess, the only way for US astronauts to get up to the ISS is usually by Russian rocket. The Kensington Review will refrain from calling manned-space flight into question yet again. However, it is interesting to note that the golf shot preceded some repair work that Mr. Tyurin needed to do. That explains priorities better than anything else.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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