Astrojax in Space
As part of NASA's TOYS IN SPACE program, astronauts
on the international space station played with a set of Astrojax on Tueday
July 16, 2002. In a live broadcast on NASA TV they answered questions from
school children invited by the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Asked
whether Astojax works in space, Astronaut Peggy Ann Whitson said: "Astrojax are actually a lot
of fun here in space too" and went on demonstrating the toy. And it
worked indeed! It kept spinning even after the Russian astronaut let go of
it and was beautifully floating through space...
Astrojax was invented by the American physicist
Larry Shaw. While still at graduate school Shaw discovered the basic principle
of Astrojax while playing with hex nuts and dental floss in a physics lab.
Intrigued by the complex patterns this simple arrangement created, he started
to develop the idea. What first looked quite simple was actually very hard to
solve mathematically. It took almost two years and hundreds of prototypes before
Shaw decided on a model and had the principle patented.
Finding the right company to produce the toy was the next hurdle. Like many
other breakthrough inventions, Astrojax was not understood by the large established
toy companies since it didn't fit in their standard categories. Shaw formed
a toy company himself which produced Astrojax before he finally met a partner
with a record in making and promoting unusual and innovative motion toys.
Since the year 2000 the Swiss toy company ACTIVE PEOPLE has taken charge
of production and worldwide distribution of Astrojax.
Astrojax wins prestigeous toy awards in the United States and already has
three different categories in the Guinness Book of Records.
