A scientist in space

An account is given of an experiment involving the equilibrium shapes of the dynamics of a rotating and oscillating drop conducted aboard the Space Shuttle in April 1985. The Drop Dynamics Module used in the experiments was fabricated and tested at JPL. In the experiment, a one-inch drop was spun out and then controlled acoustically so that physical contact with it could be avoided. In the axysymmetric shape region, the drop behaved nicely, but once it got to the bifurcation point it deviated from the theory substantially; the fission point agreed with theory but the shapes were different.