Does a boomerang thrown in space return to its pitcher? It does if it was thrown inside an airy environment like the International Space Station, a Japanese astronaut proved last week. But scientists say he would have had different results if he had tossed the boomerang outside the orbiting outpost.

Takao Doi, an astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, did the experiment while visiting the space station as part of NASA's latest space shuttle mission, which is scheduled to land on Wednesday.

The boomerang behaved no differently than on Earth, flying back to Doi after he threw it. "It flew just like on Earth, and I was really surprised and impressed," Doi told his wife in a chat from space, according to Japan's Mainichi Daily News.