Need a pick-me-up? Watch this astronaut dance dance DANCE! his way out of the one perfect spot in the International Space Station where he’s been imprisoned by his own weightlessness.
Okay, he’s not actually in trouble. The astronauts on board the space station are simply demonstrating a design flaw in the Japanese Kibo module that was attached to the station in 2008. Turns out there’s a spot in the very middle of the module that is out of reach of every available handhold, so if an astronaut’s momentum comes to rest in that spot then they are essentially stuck.
Unless they do a very silly dance!
These kind of null areas are a particularly unique problem in orbital engineering, as the act of orbiting equalizes the forces of gravity that usually pull someone towards the Earth’s surface, hence the weightlessness. If an astronaut finds themselves without handholds or an alternative means of propulsion, then they can get stuck in these equalized spots.
There are ways out, though! And it looks like the crew of goofballs on the I.S.S. specifically chose the most hilarious one. Watch as an astronaut is placed in the null area and does a variety of acrobatic contortions to re-instill momentum.
The Kibo module null area was fixed with a railing shortly afterwards. Check out this gif of just the dance itself by Michael Hails.
