There is a ping-pong ball in space. It sounds great.
The footage that was shared by Chinese media was very puzzling. The ball always comes back to Deng's paddle, but he doesn't seem to be bouncing it off a flat surface, leaving us with far more questions than answers.
Does ping-pong in space count as a game of extraterrestrials?
The ball seems to be attached to a long static tether, which is itself attached to the floor of the station, in the picture below.
Our theory is that the ball hovers in the air when Deng isn't hitting it with his paddle.
It's a far cry from Earth-based table tennis, which is fair because of confined space and lack of gravity.
It's not clear why Deng didn't pick up a game with the two other crew members who traveled to the space station with him. Maybe they don't like the game.
Four crewed missions have docked with the space station in the last couple of years.
One month into their mission, Deng and his colleagues will have a lot more time to play ping pong.
taikonauts have played ping-pong in space before. The Chinese state media released footage of two astronauts playing ping-pong on the Tinagong-2 space lab, which is a predecessor of the current space station.
The ping-pong ball floating back and forth through space from one player to another was similar to the earthly version of the sport.
A different crew of astronauts showed off their ping-pong skills using the same contraption that Deng used in the video.
A crew member said that they can play ping-pong, listen to music, and jog in space.
Staying active in space is important, as researchers have found that staying in microgravity for a long time is linked to health effects.
It seems like a strange ping-pong contraption is one of the ways that astronauts keep their minds active.
There is a new section attached to its brand new space station.
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