Astronauts experiment with sports in microgravity

‘Special Report’ anchor Bret Baier reports on how space has been a testing ground for sporting equipment and other NASA projects.

Some of the first experiments in space dealt with gravity and weightlessness. They were somewhat simple studies to test the new environment. Alan Shepard was the first man to hit a golf ball on the moon in 1971. He hit two balls, claiming the second traveled for "miles and miles and miles."

But that wasn’t actually the case. Because of limitations in his space suit, he was unable to tee the ball up or take a full swing. However, his moon shot has since inspired testing for golf clubs and other sporting equipment in space.

Cobra Puma Golf Company has developed a driver that was tested in space.

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"They wanted to do a metal electric plating project in space," said Nanoracks co-founder Jeffrey Manber. "They were hopeful that what you would get are better golf clubs."

Nanoracks is now part of Voyager Space. The company has helped test equipment across a variety of sports. It has also conducted experiments on other household items. Some of these include looking at how whiskey ages in space with Ardbeg, testing shoe soles alongside Adidas, and potential future experiments with an ice cream manufacturer.

"It’s the beginning of using the unique environment of space for all sorts of everyday uses," Manber said.

Thirty-eight years ago, astronaut Bill Nelson, now the NASA administrator, used the first treadmill ever sent to space. (NASA/Getty Images)

For Cobra Puma’s experiment, they looked at how microgravity impacted certain metals in hopes of improving stronger, lighter alloys for use on Earth.

"NASA