'Return to home planet': 70-year-old astronaut performs zero-gravity yo-yo trick

The Advertiser

19 hours ago

NASA's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, has performed a new yo-yo trick on the International Space Station, dubbing it with an extremely apt name.
The 70-year-old said a circular motion was required to ensure the yo-yo's string was kept taut in space.
The video shows the orbiter unwinding the yo-yo before spinning it 360 degrees. He flips it with his finger before it launches back to his hand.
"When in space, you get to name what you discover. I call this yo-yo trick 'Return to Home Planet'," Mr Pettit said.
The fitting name comes as the septuagenarian had returned to his home planet after a seven-month mission on the International Space Station on April 20 - his 70th birthday.
He landed in Kazakhstan, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagne.
"During his time aboard the space station, Pettit conducted research to enhance in-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitisation technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behaviour in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions," NASA said at the time.
READ MORE: Australia's first astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg inspires children
Mr Pettit has been known to capture attention with his videos of experiments in space. In 2013, the space agency shared a video of him utilising Angry Birds to explain how physics works in space.
It was his fourth mission to space after he was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996 and his first launch as a flight engineer in 2006.
Mr Pettit also invented the "zero-g" coffee cup that carries fluid along a crease to avoid the need for a straw.
NASA's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, has performed a new yo-yo trick on the International Space Station, dubbing it with an extremely apt name.
The 70-year-old said a circular motion was required to ensure the yo-yo's string was kept taut in space.
The video shows the orbiter unwinding the yo-yo before spinning it 360 degrees. He flips it with his finger before it launches back to his hand.
"When in space, you get to name what you discover. I call this yo-yo trick 'Return to Home Planet'," Mr Pettit said.
The fitting name comes as the septuagenarian had returned to his home planet after a seven-month mission on the International Space Station on April 20 - his 70th birthday.
He landed in Kazakhstan, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagne.
"During his time aboard the space station, Pettit conducted research to enhance in-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitisation technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behaviour in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions," NASA said at the time.
READ MORE: Australia's first astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg inspires children
Mr Pettit has been known to capture attention with his videos of experiments in space. In 2013, the space agency shared a video of him utilising Angry Birds to explain how physics works in space.
It was his fourth mission to space after he was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996 and his first launch as a flight engineer in 2006.
Mr Pettit also invented the "zero-g" coffee cup that carries fluid along a crease to avoid the need for a straw.
NASA's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, has performed a new yo-yo trick on the International Space Station, dubbing it with an extremely apt name.
The 70-year-old said a circular motion was required to ensure the yo-yo's string was kept taut in space.
The video shows the orbiter unwinding the yo-yo before spinning it 360 degrees. He flips it with his finger before it launches back to his hand.
"When in space, you get to name what you discover. I call this yo-yo trick 'Return to Home Planet'," Mr Pettit said.
The fitting name comes as the septuagenarian had returned to his home planet after a seven-month mission on the International Space Station on April 20 - his 70th birthday.
He landed in Kazakhstan, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagne.
"During his time aboard the space station, Pettit conducted research to enhance in-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitisation technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behaviour in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions," NASA said at the time.
READ MORE: Australia's first astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg inspires children
Mr Pettit has been known to capture attention with his videos of experiments in space. In 2013, the space agency shared a video of him utilising Angry Birds to explain how physics works in space.
It was his fourth mission to space after he was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996 and his first launch as a flight engineer in 2006.
Mr Pettit also invented the "zero-g" coffee cup that carries fluid along a crease to avoid the need for a straw.
NASA's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, has performed a new yo-yo trick on the International Space Station, dubbing it with an extremely apt name.
The 70-year-old said a circular motion was required to ensure the yo-yo's string was kept taut in space.
The video shows the orbiter unwinding the yo-yo before spinning it 360 degrees. He flips it with his finger before it launches back to his hand.
"When in space, you get to name what you discover. I call this yo-yo trick 'Return to Home Planet'," Mr Pettit said.
The fitting name comes as the septuagenarian had returned to his home planet after a seven-month mission on the International Space Station on April 20 - his 70th birthday.
He landed in Kazakhstan, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagne.
"During his time aboard the space station, Pettit conducted research to enhance in-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitisation technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behaviour in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions," NASA said at the time.
READ MORE: Australia's first astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg inspires children
Mr Pettit has been known to capture attention with his videos of experiments in space. In 2013, the space agency shared a video of him utilising Angry Birds to explain how physics works in space.
It was his fourth mission to space after he was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996 and his first launch as a flight engineer in 2006.
Mr Pettit also invented the "zero-g" coffee cup that carries fluid along a crease to avoid the need for a straw.