Video: Why Did NASA Set a Fire in Space?
A team of scientists and engineers test the components of Saffire I (background) and Saffire II (foreground) NASA
Burn, baby, burn!
What happens when you light a fire in space? That's exactly what NASA hopes to understand with its spacecraft fire experiment.
Flames on Earth rely on gravity and our atmosphere to give them their shape and direction. In microgravity, the flame on a match stays like a little sphere.
So, the agency launched the unmanned Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo vehicle. It contains sensors, cameras and most important, a piece of cloth to set on fire.
Ultimately, NASA hopes these ongoing experiments will help with fire safety measures in future missions
To see the space fire in action, check out the video below from Wired: