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moment of inertia

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The right spin: how to fly a broken space craft

On the 25th of May 1997 a dramatic collision tore a hole into the space station Mir and sent it hurtling through space. As NASA astronaut Michael Foale tells Plus, the fate of Mir and its crew hinged on a classical set of equations.
Article
Unspinning the boomerang

Unspinning the boomerang

In this article, we look at the physics behind the curved flight path of a returning boomerang, and explain that boomerangs are really a kind of gyroscope. We even show you how to bang up a boomerang yourself!