Featured Image Credit: (NASA)
Topics: NASA, Science, Space, Technology
Brenna Cooper
We've all seen what would happen if you dropped a GoPro into the depths of the ocean, but have you ever wondered about dropping a GoPro in space?
Well, a group of astronauts did exactly just that.
Now, before you get too ahead of yourselves, we're not talking about chucking a camera out the hatch of a spaceship here — although one man did send one into the stratosphere attached to a balloon.
No, for this particular experiment, we're talking about a group of astronauts who created a floating water bubble and then chucked their GoPro in.
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Why I hear you ask? Well, for science, and because why not.
This particular experiment, if you can call it that, took place in 2014 on what must of been a slow day onboard the International Space Station (ISS), with crew members from NASA and the European Space Agency deciding to explore 'the phenomenon of water surface tension in microgravity'.
Which is just a fancy way of telling your boss you spent the afternoon d**king around with a camera.
In the clip, we see NASA's Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson 'create' a ball of water, thanks to the weightlessness of the ISS, before pushing the camera in after some trial and error.
The crew then show shots from both inside and outside of the camera bubble as it floats weightlessly around the room without a care in the world. Mission accomplished!
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After filming the camera for a few moments, the astronauts then set about removing the camera from the water, something which is much easier said than done.
Without gravity, water in outer space just floats around in a jelly-like sphere until it hits something. Which would be pretty annoying if it collided with your electrics. Although thankfully, this time, Russian engineer Oleg Artemyev was on hand with a towel to clean up any potential mess.
We can only imagine this is the sort of thing stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are filling their hours with until they're returned to Earth. The joys of zero gravity.
After completing a mission in the cosmos, NASA revealed that astronauts can lose around '1% to 1.5% of mineral density per month during spaceflight', mineral density from weight bearing bones as well as up to 30% of their muscle mass.