Sprint the Flying Space Camera
Yes, but can your soccer ball do this?
The ball near the middle of the above photograph is actually a robotic camera
designed to float about a
Space Shuttle and the
International Space Station
and take pictures. Named "Sprint", it is NASA's first Autonomous Extravehicular
Activity Robotic Camera (AERCam) and was tested earlier
this month by the
crew
of Space Shuttle Columbia. Sprint's diameter is actually about
50 percent larger than a soccer ball, and
astronauts make a goal of not kicking it.