Golf Shot Around-the-World!

Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will hit a long drive golf shot Wednesday 6:28 PM ET 22 November that may literally go around the world. The Russian will swing knocking a lightweight golf ball off a tee placed on the top of the Russian docking port on the International Space Station.

Club maker Element 21 Golf Co. of Toronto is paying the Russians an undisclosed amount for Tyurin's time, which included plenty of practice swings aboard the space station. Tyurin's drive is expected to be one for the record books, though not everyone agrees on how long the ball will fly. NASA figures it will fall into Earth's atmosphere and be incinerated within three days. Element 21 Golf is betting on three years 2.1 billion miles, and several orbits of Earth.

The last golf shot in space was on the Moon by the late Apollo 14 Commander Alan B. Shapard, Jr. in 1971 going "miles and miles and miles" above the lunar surface (video).