Golf Ball in Space?
How do you go about smashing the world long drive record? Try hitting a golf ball in zero gravity and crushing the long drive record by approximately 3 billion KM. This is what Russian Cosmonaut will attempt to do from the International Space Station with a special gold-plated golf ball and a 6 Iron. Who is behind all this you may wonder…a good old Canadian company called Element 21. Element 21 is a golf club manufacturer who’s clubs are made from a rare metal (Element 21 on the periodic table) known as scandium.
Element 21 CEO and founder Dr. Nataliya Hearn confirmed they are paying the Russian Space Agency for this opportunity to raise awareness of their clubs but it is also a great way to celebrate the 35th anniversary of astronaut Alan Shepard Jr. when he hit a golf ball on the moon in 1971 while travelling on Apollo 14. Dr. Nataliya Hearn has agreed to take part in an interview with Golflogic which will be posted here in a few days. Stay tuned.
While it does sound like a fun stunt, some people think it may be a little dangerous. You can read the entire article HERE but here is an interesting bit: One expert told New Scientist magazine that the ball could potentially hit the station with the force of a 6.5-tonne truck travelling at about 100 kilometres an hour.
[…] The big day is right around the corner! Wednesday November 23rd, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will hit a golf ball in space. As you may recall, we first wrote about this story back in March, where Canadian Golf Company Element 21 dreamt up this great idea to draw awareness to their new golf clubs. The clubs are made from Scandium which is supposed to help create more distance and better feel. We were fortunate enough to get an interview with Element 21 CEO Nataliya Hearn last March as well and stay tuned as Bill Dey, the new Executive VP and General Manager has also agreed to an interview. Posted under Idiotic Ramblings | […]
Pingback by Illogical Golf Blog » Golf Ball in Space — November 17, 2006 @ 11:04 am
[…] GL: Bill, November 23rd is the big day when the Russian Cosmonaut will hit the Space Shot. You must be excited to see this event finally here after all the planning and red tape to get this done. There has been a lot of hype and excitement around this for the better part of the last year. What are you planning to do after the event to keep the publicity rolling? […]
Pingback by Illogical Golf Blog » Par 5 – 5 Questions with Bill Dey, COO Element 21 — November 22, 2006 @ 12:33 am
[…] The off-season may have brought a change in my game but I have also changed some of the partners helping me with my goals. The biggest change may be my equipment. For those faithful readers of the Illogicial Golf Blog, you know I have been following Element 21 for sometime. They have agreed to come on board as an equipment sponsor and I can’t say enough already. I plan on writing more about this equipment and the results they have posted in independent test. In the meantime, please see the latest press release on the Going Pro experiment below: […]
Pingback by Golf Logic - — May 10, 2007 @ 6:46 pm