Space Golf: The New Sport?

NASA's Shane Kimbrough, an avid golfer who also happens to be an astronaut, is planning on taking pictures of greens around the world upon his return to the International Space Station this fall. Kimbrough is set to command the Expedition 50, and because he can't play golf in space, he is planning on replacing his tee-offs with flags from his favorite courses around the world.

As Swing by Swing noted, that is bird's eye view from a completely different level, not that he can spend most of his time photographing greens from all over the world, with the research and observations he needed to do while in space.

Kimbrough's Expedition 49/50 mission, according to Space.com, had been delayed from its original September 30 launch, but NASA said that it will still go on this fall from the Kazakhstan Baikonur Cosmodrome, and will feature visits from several cargo vehicles from Russia, Japan, and the United States.

 Among the things that Kimbrough will do while on board the ISS is to take a spacewalk in January to prepare for the arrival of crewed vehicles from SpaceX and Boeing next year, or the year after. This is especially important considering that just earlier this month; the US cargo provider SpaceX suffered one of its biggest setbacks when the Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad during a test at Cape Canaveral, taking with it a $200 million Israeli Communications Satellite. However, Kimbrough said that there have been no news of whether or not the SpaceX rocket explosion will affect the launch schedule.

He is also expecting two Dragon flights during his mission - one in November, and another in February, and several more cargo flights in between. According to him, these cargo flights are usually the cause of excitement during these missions, saying that "It's like Christmas every time one of those shows up," with their cargo that includes science supplies and even some gifts for crewmembers, including fresh fruit that they never usually get otherwise.