
Expedition 65 prime crew member Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos plays a game of billiards, Saturday, April 3, 2021, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The prime crew, Novitskiy, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on April 9. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

jsc2017e137344 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 54-55 prime crewmember Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) tries his hand at a game of billiards Dec. 11 during a break in pre-launch training. Shkaplerov, Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch Dec. 17 on the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a five month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin / Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

At the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 48-49 crewmember Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos tries his hand a billiards June 30 during pre-launch activities. Ivanishin, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Kate Rubins of NASA will launch July 7, Baikonur time, on the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft for a planned four-month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Alexander Vysotsky

jsc2017e137338 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 54-55 prime crewmember Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) tries his hand at a game of billiards Dec. 11 during a break in pre-launch training while backup crewmember Jeanette Epps of NASA looks on. Kanai, Scott Tingle of NASA and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will launch Dec. 17 on the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a five month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin / Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

At the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 48-49 crewmember Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (right) tries his hand at billiards June 30 during pre-launch activities as his crewmate, Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos looks on. In the background on the left, backup crewmember Peggy Whitson of NASA participates in a game of chess. Onishi, Ivanishin and Kate Rubins of NASA will launch July 7, Baikonur time, on the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft for a planned four-month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Alexander Vysotsky

jsc2018e097768 - At his Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 crewmember David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency tries his hand at a game of billiards Nov. 27 during free time from pre-launch training. Saint-Jacques, Anne McClain of NASA and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos will launch Dec. 3 on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

jsc2020e016964 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 63 crewmember Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos plays a game of billiards April 1. Ivanishin, Chris Cassidy of NASA and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos will launch April 9 on the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Under the watchful eye of backup crewmember Oleg Artemyev (rear), Expedition 37/38 Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins of NASA plays a game of billiards at the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Sept. 18. Hopkins, Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy are set to launch Sept. 26, Kazakh time, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on their Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft for a five and a half month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

nhq202010060006 (Oct. 6, 2020) --- Expedition 64 backup crew member Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos plays a game of billiards, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Expedition 64 prime crew of Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft on October 14. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

jsc2018e085897 (Oct. 3, 2018) --- Expedition 57 crew member Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos plays a game of billiards as part of the traditional pre-launch activities, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Ovchinin and Nick Hague of NASA are scheduled to launch on Oct. 11 onboard the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)

jsc2018e025552 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 55 crewmember Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos tries his hand at billiards March 15 as his crewmates, Drew Feustel of NASA (left) and Ricky Arnold of NASA (right) look on. They will launch March 21 on the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a five-month mission to the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

Expedition 65 backup crew member Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos plays a game of billiards, Saturday, April 3, 2021, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The prime crew, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on April 9. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

5939: At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 42/43 crewmember Terry Virts of NASA (left) tries his hand at billiards Nov. 18 as his Soyuz Commander, Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, right) looks on. Virts, Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency are preparing to launch Nov. 24, Kazakh time, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in their Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Sergei Fyodorov

Expedition 65 prime crew member Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos plays a game of billiards, Saturday, April 3, 2021, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The prime crew, Novitskiy, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on April 9. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

jsc2018e097769 - At her Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 crewmember Anne McClain of NASA tries her hand at a game of billiards Nov. 27 during free time from pre-launch training. McClain, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos will launch Dec. 3 on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

jsc2017e101944 (July 22, 2017) --- At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 52-53 crewmember Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency tries his hand at billiards July 22 as his crewmates at the far end of the table, Randy Bresnik of NASA (left) and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, right) look on. The trio will launch July 28 on the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a five-month mission on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

jsc2020e016963 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 63 crewmember Chris Cassidy of NASA plays a game of billiards April 1. Cassidy and Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos will launch April 9 on the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 35-36 Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA plays a game of billiards March 21 as he takes a break from training for his launch to the International Space Station with crewmates Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin March 29, Kazakh time, in their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The three crewmembers will spend 5 ½ months on the orbital laboratory. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

In the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency takes a turn at the billiards table May 22 as he, Mikhail Tyurin and Rick Mastracchio of NASA serve as backups to prime Expedition 36/37 crewmembers Karen Nyberg of NASA, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Fyodor Yurchikhin, who are preparing for their launch May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft to begin a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

jsc2019e039268 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 60 crewmember Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos tries his hand at billiards July 12 as part of pre-launch activities. Skvortsov, Drew Morgan of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency will launch July 20 on the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a mission to the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/GCT.

jsc2018e085896 (Oct. 3, 2018) --- Expedition 57 crew member Nick Hague of NASA plays a game of billiards as part of the traditional pre-launch activities, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Hague and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch on Oct. 11 onboard the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)

jsc2017e043071 (April 13, 2017) --- At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 51 crewmember Jack Fischer of NASA tries his hand in a game of billiards April 13 as part of his pre-launch activities. Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will liftoff April 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft for a four and a half month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Expedition 32/33 Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency gets in a round of billiards at the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan July 9, 2012 as he prepares for launch July 15 to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft. Hoshide will launch with Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

jsc2018e025554 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 55 crewmember Ricky Arnold of NASA tries his hand at billiards March 15 as part of pre-launch activities. Arnold, Drew Feustel of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos will launch March 21 on the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a five-month mission to the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

jsc2018e050824 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 56 backup crewmember Anne McClain of NASA tries her hand at a game of billiards May 29 as part of the traditional pre-launch activities. She is one of the backups to the prime crew, Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA, Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, who will launch June 6 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft for a six-month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

At their Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 59 backup crewmembers Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (left) and Drew Morgan of NASA (right) take a moment from pre-launch training for a game of billiards March 7. Along with Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos, they are the backups to the prime crewmembers, Christina Koch of NASA, Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and Nick Hague of NASA, who will launch March 14, U.S. time, on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

jsc2020e016959 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 63 backup crewmember Steve Bowen of NASA plays a game of billiards April 1 as he takes a break from pre-launch training. Bowen and Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Babkin of Roscosmos are the backups to the prime crew, Chris Cassidy of NASA and Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos, who will launch April 9 on the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

jsc2018e025553 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 55 crewmember Drew Feustel of NASA tries his hand at billiards March 15 as his crewmates, Ricky Arnold of NASA (left) and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos (right) look on. In the background, backup crewmembers Nick Hague of NASA and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos (back to camera) play a game of chess. Feustel, Arnold and Artemyev will launch March 21 on the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a five-month mission to the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

In the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA gets in a round of Ping-Pong May 22 as she limbers up for launch May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft with Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency to begin a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. In the background at the billiards table are backup crewmembers Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (left) and Rick Mastracchio of NASA (right). NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Media document Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly as he plays billiards during media day, Saturday, March 21, 2015, Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Media document Expedition 43 Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), left, and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, right, as they play billiards during media day, Saturday, March 21, 2015, Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

With backup crewmember Reid Wiseman (right) of NASA looking on, prime Expedition 38/39 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (left) takes a turn at Ping-Pong Nov. 1 at the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. In the far background in the blue flight suit, backup crewmember Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency waits his turn at the billiards table. Wakata, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA are preparing for launch Nov. 7, Kazakh time, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft to begin a six-month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

11-47-48: At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 40/41 backup crewmembers Terry Virts of NASA (left) and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (right) try their hand at a game of billiards May 21 as they head into the homestretch of pre-launch training. Virts, Cristoforetti and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are backing up the prime crew, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of Roscosmos and NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman, who will launch on May 29, Kazakh time, on the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured for the first time snapshots of fledging white dwarf stars beginning their slow-paced, 40-million-year migration from the crowded center of an ancient star cluster to the less populated suburbs. White dwarfs are the burned-out relics of stars that rapidly lose mass, cool down and shut off their nuclear furnaces. As these glowing carcasses age and shed weight, their orbits begin to expand outward from the star cluster’s packed downtown. This migration is caused by a gravitational tussle among stars inside the cluster. Globular star clusters sort out stars according to their mass, governed by a gravitational billiard ball game where lower mass stars rob momentum from more massive stars. The result is that heavier stars slow down and sink to the cluster's core, while lighter stars pick up speed and move across the cluster to the edge. This process is known as "mass segregation." Until these Hubble observations, astronomers had never definitively seen the dynamical conveyor belt in action. Astronomers used Hubble to watch the white-dwarf exodus in the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, a dense swarm of hundreds of thousands of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The cluster resides 16,700 light-years away in the southern constellation Tucana. Credits: NASA, ESA, and H. Richer and J. Heyl (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada); acknowledgement: J. Mack (STScI) and G. Piotto (University of Padova, Italy)

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured for the first time snapshots of fledging white dwarf stars beginning their slow-paced, 40-million-year migration from the crowded center of an ancient star cluster to the less populated suburbs. White dwarfs are the burned-out relics of stars that rapidly lose mass, cool down and shut off their nuclear furnaces. As these glowing carcasses age and shed weight, their orbits begin to expand outward from the star cluster’s packed downtown. This migration is caused by a gravitational tussle among stars inside the cluster. Globular star clusters sort out stars according to their mass, governed by a gravitational billiard ball game where lower mass stars rob momentum from more massive stars. The result is that heavier stars slow down and sink to the cluster's core, while lighter stars pick up speed and move across the cluster to the edge. This process is known as "mass segregation." Until these Hubble observations, astronomers had never definitively seen the dynamical conveyor belt in action. Astronomers used Hubble to watch the white-dwarf exodus in the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, a dense swarm of hundreds of thousands of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The cluster resides 16,700 light-years away in the southern constellation Tucana. Read more: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/hubble-catches-stellar-exodus-in-action" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/hubble-catches-stellar-exodu...</a> Credits: NASA, ESA, and H. Richer and J. Heyl (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada); acknowledgement: J. Mack (STScI) and G. Piotto (University of Padova, Italy) <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>