We're not the only ones who are excited about
this weekend's premiere of 'Cosmos: A Space/Time
Odyssey."
We've got some friends in high places -- astronauts
on the International Space Station who want
to demonstrate for all of us that when you're
doing science, you have to do experiments.
So in celebration of "Cosmos," they're going
to do an experiment for us in real-time in
the International Space Station, in zero gravity.
Check it out.
Greetings from the International Space Station,
where we're currently 260 miles above the
Earth in a weightless environment.
We can help show how Newton's 3rd Law of Motion
works in microgravity.
If I keep my feet planted, like this, to represent
gravity, this space shuttle model will fly
but won't come down to the floor like yours
does on Earth.
The mass of this space shuttle model is not
very high relative to me, so to get a clearer
demonstration of Newton's 3rd law in microgravity
environment, we need to increase the mass
of the shuttle model.
I'm going to ask for the help of the space
station's commander, JAXA Astronaut Koichi
Wakata.
Commander?
So we'll increase the mass of the space shuttle
model by adding commander Wakata to it.
Now, we'll do the same experiment with his
mass.
Newton was right.
This is simple science, but the more complex
science we're doing here on the space station
will help us bring real world benefits back
to humanity on Earth as well as take us further
to the cosmos than ever before, including
to an asteroid, the moon, or on to Mars.
