34. Sheikh's Experiments

Malaysia's first astronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha today conducted five experiments in microgravity condition at the International Space Station (ISS).

The first was the spinning of the Malaysian traditional game gasing (top), where he attached a string to a 95-gramme top made of aluminium and let it spin in mid-air in horizontal and vertical positions for less than a minute.

In the second experiment, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar pressed a pack containing strawberry juice which came out within seconds in a jelly-like substance floating in mid-air.

He later used a spoon to scoop the floating jelly and put it into his mouth.

The third experiment involved the mixing of oil and water in a square-shaped crystal box with the substances mixing well in microgravity condition. In normal situation oil floats on top of water.

In his fourth experiment Dr Sheikh Muszaphar showed the audience on earth how a yo-yo would swing in microgravity condition.

Under normal circumstances, a yo-yo goes up and down when in play but in a microgravity condition, the yo-yo goes up, down and to the front as well.

In his last experiment, he showed the differences in velocity of three balls of different sizes, travelling in microgravity.

The balls appeared to have moved in slow motion during the experiment.

Read all here.