Water Balloons in Space

As part of his ongoing (and always entertaining) “Science Off the Sphere” series, Expedition 31 flight engineer Don Pettit experiments in orbit with a classic bit of summertime fun: water balloons.

Captured in real-time and slow-motion, we get to see how water behaves when suddenly freed from the restraints of an inflated latex balloon… and gravity. With Don NASA doesn’t only get a flight engineer, it gets its very own Mr. Wizard in space — check it out!

8 Replies to “Water Balloons in Space”

    1. He is great – these are wonderful. He “um’s” and “ah’s” a bit too much for my tastes – HOWEVER that’s not a big deal compared to the great info he’s giving us.

      1. Whatah do you, um meanah by ah your statement? Don’s a very experienced astronaut and quite intelligent, but you are right about his speech patterns. I take it as the sign of an extremely active mind – parsing his interpretations in a reductionist manner so that his complex thoughts are understood.

  1. I found the exploding spherical ballon to be most interesting, because at one point in the slo-mo video the shape is very similar to photos of astronomic nebulae. The Ant nebula in particular comes to mind. Makes me wonder if the rules governing the shape of a nebula are simpler than science makes them out to be.

  2. fantastic show and interesting explanation for the scientifically challenged 😉

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