Japanese astronaut Takao Doi is set to throw a boomerang inside the International Space Station in March to test how it flies, after receiving training from a world boomerang champion, it has been learned.

It is thought that gravity is necessary for a boomerang to return to the throwing spot, but it remains unknown how boomerangs fly in space. Doi plans to throw a paper boomerang during a break in construction and other work at Japan's Kibo testing room at the International Space Station in March.

The 53-year-old astronaut decided to test the boomerang after receiving a request from Yasuhiro Togai, 36, a world boomerang champion from Osaka Prefecture who later gave Doi some training.

Togai had been interested in space since he was young, and when he was 18 he visited a NASA facility. After seeing the Space Shuttle before liftoff, he became interested in traveling into space.

Later, Togai started participating in boomerang competitions, and he took the No. 1 spot at the world championships in Hokkaido in 2006. He came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to travel to space himself, but he thought "I at least want to see a boomerang fly in space," and contacted the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), whose space education center head Yasunori Matogawa introduced him to Doi.

In the autumn of 2006, Togai visited JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, and gave Doi instructions on boomerang throwing. Doi's skills soon improved.

Matogawa noted that astronaut Mamoru Mori flew a paper plane in a shuttle in 1992, but said nobody has tried to throw a boomerang in space.

"It's an interesting idea that could enable us to learn how things fly in zero gravity from a scientific viewpoint as well," he said.

Togai made a practice boomerang and a proper boomerang for Doi and sent them to JAXA.

"It's really overwhelming that a boomerang will go to space instead of me. I wonder whether it will come back or float upwards or go somewhere else. I'm really excited," Togai said.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.

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