NASA sends a fidget spinner toy in space -- watch it go bonkers
NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik has been busy going on spacewalks and taking space selfies, but he found some time to indulge in a previously Earth-bound fad. He tweeted a video Friday of some fidget spinner experiments onboard the International Space Station.
The video kicks off with the spinner floating unmoored and rotating around at a rapid pace. "Allowing the fidget spinner to float reduces the bearing friction by permitting the rate of the central ring and outer spinner to equalize, and the whole thing spins as a unit," NASA explains.
The red and black spinner sports a NASA logo at the center. Several members of the current ISS crew take turns playing with the spinner and performing some fancy body rolls along with it.
Our biggest question here is just how long will that fidget spinner spin in microgravity? Bresnik doesn't have an answer for us, writing, "I'm not sure, but it's a great way to experiment with Newton's laws of motion!"
Watch Bresnik play with the fidget spinner in the video below:
And why not while you're here, check out some NASA accomplishments over the decades in the gallery below: