Ball back at U. of C. after space mission
October 31, 2009
Astronomer Edwin Hubble was the first to prove the existence of galaxies other than our own.
But he never could have predicted that a basketball he played with in a 1909 championship game for the University of Chicago Maroons would travel 347 miles -- into outer space. On Friday, the ball was returned to the U. of C. athletic department after it went on a NASA mission to the space telescope named after Hubble.
Fellow U. of C. alum, scientist and astronaut John Grunsfeld -- called the "Hubble repairman" by President Obama -- took the ball on his fifth mission to space in May.
The ball will now go on display at the Gerald Ratner Athletic Center at the University of Chicago.
Art Golab