Scott Kelly plays ping-pong in space and we’re all winners

Playing ping pong in space. (credit: NASA)

Scott Kelly and his Russian colleague, Mikhail Kornienko, hit the 300-day mark on board the International Space Station on Thursday, and they're now less than two months away from flying home in a Soyuz capsule.

To celebrate the milestone, Kelly sent down a nifty little video in which he uses two hydrophobic paddles to bounce a droplet of water back and forth in microgravity.

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

On Earth, of course, gravity pulls water droplets down to fill in whatever container water is poured into. But in space the water molecules at the surface are bonded such that the tension holds them together as spheres, and water can be bounced back and forth, like a ball.