An artificial banana floated peacefully in the microgravity environment of outer space on Tuesday (Nov. 19). No longer needing its attached tethers, it just hung there, suspended in the bay of its steel spacecraft's otherwise empty cargo hold.
The fake-but-full-size fruit made history as the first zero-gravity indicator to fly on a SpaceX Starship.
"Bananas have been used for quick visual comparisons for quite some time, and our teammates thought it was time to bring the venerated yellow fruit to Starship," said Kate Tice, a quality engineering manager at SpaceX and co-host of the company's live launch webcast. "Today, we're flying Starship's first-ever physical payload, which is, as you might have guessed, a banana."
