After reaching his 300th day aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is near the end of his special year-long mission in space. He now spends most of his remaining days on the orbital facility trying out fun activities in zero gravity.
On Thursday, the veteran engineer and retired U.S. naval captain played a game of ping pong on the ISS using a small drop of water, which formed into a ball thanks to the weightlessness of space.
Kelly then proceeded to bounce the water ball between two hydrophobic paddles, while also serving up a challenge to Mary Poppins, the eponymous lead character of Disney's 1964 musical film of the same name.
Try this, Mary Poppins! Super-hydrophobic polycarbonate ping pong paddles and a water ball in space! #YearInSpace https://t.co/BB0Z35jbVa
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) January 21, 2016
The solo ping pong game is just one of the many undertakings Kelly has tried throughout his stay in space.
In previous photographs and videos, he was shown growing flowers with his crewmates, eating space-cultivated vegetables and even haunting the hallways of ISS wearing an egg-like mask for Halloween. The images can be seen on his Instagram and Twitter accounts.
While Kelly may seem like he is just trying to fight off the effects of boredom, his activities have all been part of his day job for NASA. His Web videos are meant to show how life in space would be like for future interplanetary travelers.
He is also tasked with testing new technologies to find out how they would fare in zero gravity. It may have not been noticeable at first glance, but the hydrophobic paddles that Kelly used for his ping pong game featured laser-etched surfaces that were sprayed with Teflon. The combination of the Teflon and the etching allowed the paddles to repel water more effectively.
Kelly's video feed from the ISS is also meant to try out 4K technology. The RED Epic camera that NASA sent up to the orbital facility last year allows the crew to film their activities, which are then shown through the web as well as on the space agency's new 4K TV channel.
The RED Epic camera records high quality images that capture the sense of how large the ISS, and what it must be like to be in the orbital facility.
Aside from Kelly, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko has also spent his 300th day on the ISS as part of the year-long mission. The pair is set to wrap up their stay in space and land in Kazakhstan in the spring of 2016.
