Astronaut to set MTA record?

frisbeespace.gifDiscovery’s seven astronauts are among the most culturally diverse of any space shuttle crew. There are two African-Americans, an astronaut of Indian descent, the soon-to-be first Swede in space, a British-born mission specialist, an Alaskan and a Jersey Boy.
The Swede, Christer Fuglesang, is a former national Frisbee champion and plans to bring a Frisbee up to space. During a live satellite link-up with children on Earth, he’ll try to set the record for maximum time aloft! (more…)
Link to ABC’s story: How long will a Frisbee fly in space?
UPDATE:

Discovery took off early Sunday morning, and now the time schedule is official: Friday December 15 GMT 19:07. That’s when the first ever officially sanctioned sports event will happen in space ! ESA (European Space Agency) have been granted official sanctioning from WFDF and the Swedish Frisbeesport Federation for an MTA (Maximum Time Aloft) competition.

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Christer Fuglesang in space with and Ultrastar! That is great publicity for Disc Sports!
I was wondering about the exact definitions of a succesfull MTA…. should the disc be spinning (and with what rpm), should it be carried by a ‘air’ cushion to be recognised as a valid attempt? Will it just stay there still in the vacuum…
Would we consider this as a ‘world’ record…. it sounds so arrogant to call it a ‘universe record’ (comparable to Americans calling the winner if their competitions World Champion…)
Good stuff,
Kind regards from Maputo, Mozambique.
Stef

Reply

  • Me again: Found the following info on this attempt (http://www.frisbeesport.se/t2.aspx?p=93566&x=1&a=895737):
    European Space Agency to host flying disc competition in space
    On Friday, December 15th, the European Space Agency is the host of a unique sporting event. Supported by the World Flying Disc Federation, the Swedish Frisbee Sport Federation are proud to sanction this unprecedented event. Christer Fuglesang, ESA astronaut on the Space Shuttle Discovery Mission STS-116, will attempt to break the world record in the flying disc sporting discipline MTA, Maximum Time Aloft.
    The competition will start at seven minutes past seven GMT in the evening of Friday, December 15th, 2006. We believe that this is the first ever sanctioned sports event that takes place in space.
    The rules of MTA are simple: A player shall attempt to throw the disc in such a fashion that the disc remains airborne for as long as possible, before catching the disc himself. The timing of the flight of the throw shall be measured from the instant of release until the instant the disc is initially touched in the catching attempt.
    In this specific competition, Christer is free to waive the recommendation in the rules that an additional disc be available in the event a disc is lost or becomes unsuitable for use.
    The MTA world record stands at an impressive 16.72 seconds and was set by Don Cain (USA), on 5/26/84, in Philadelphia, PA. The sanction for the attempt to break it was formally announced by the Swedish Frisbee Sport Federation on December 10th, 2006.
    Competition supervisors are Helen Page, European Space Agency, and Jonas Bengtsson, Södertörns Frisbee Klubb, Sweden.
    Great publicity!
    Stef

    Reply

  • I wonder if the disc will survive… I have played with discs when it was really cold and the disc breaks quickly… I believe that in space the temperature might be colder than those Canadian winters… 😉

    Reply

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