Incredible video shows the moment NASA astronauts put a GoPro in a floating ball of water
Scientists are just like the rest of us, only with the funds to test out their crazy ideas. Fueled by their curiosity to discover the secrets of unexplored space, a group of astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) once decided to put a GoPro inside a floating water bubble and let it loose in their spacecraft.
In a fascinating video, NASA’s Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson, in 2014, took advantage of the ISS's weightlessness to form a perfect water bubble. After a few attempts, they successfully managed to put a GoPro inside the floating sphere, capturing both inside and outside shots as it drifted aimlessly around the cabin. The water, free from gravity, formed a jelly-like ball that moved effortlessly through space until it bumped into something. As the bubble floated a bit too close to the station’s electronics, Russian engineer Oleg Artemyev stepped in to ensure the mess didn’t get out of hand, as reported by LADbible.
The rare experiment caught the internet's attention. On YouTube, a person commented, “Adults acting like pre-teens while orbiting Planet Earth. Good to see what the GoPro Camera can do in zero gravity. Gentlemen, Jesus Christ. God bless you all, and keep having fun.” Meanwhile, a netizen posed a bizarre question: “I have a question (for my friend asking, he's shy to ask) why [sic] them saliva do not flouting or how eyes don't get dry because of flouting tears or snot?” Another noted, “I thought they had little room for gadgets on the ISS. Still, they seem to have managed to bring with them two fairly big cameras to space???” In a similar vein, a curious viewer wondered, “What if you put a giant water bubble in orbit? Would it freeze into a giant ball? Make a spaceship out of the giant water bubble.”
In another similar incident, YouTuber BloonStu once launched a GoPro using a balloon, sending it soaring high into space. Taking off from Texas, the balloon carried the GoPro through the clouds, which soon shrank into mere specks beneath it. As the camera ascended, it stopped capturing the ground and began to reveal the curvature of Earth itself. For a brief moment, the GoPro captured a stunning view of our planet from above before the balloon popped, as reported by LADbible.
Despite the camera being attached to a parachute which did deploy, the thin air at the high altitude made it barely effective. Thankfully, as the GoPro neared the Earth’s surface, the parachute finally began to slow its descent, and it gently landed into a field below. With a tracking device, the YouTuber was able to locate his prized gadget. When asked why he took on such an ambitious project, he simply replied, "Mostly, I had free time and needed a project/hobby to keep me engaged, and secondly, space is neat."