A tabletop problem with a surprisingly simple fix

A real astronaut has done the obvious but still necessary thing: she tested whether you can roll a D20 in space. The answer, as it turns out, is yes.

Rabea Rogge, who became the first German woman in space during SpaceX’s Fram2 mission in 2025, shared the experiment on Instagram just over a year after the flight ended. The mission sent the Crew Dragon Resilience into a polar orbit around Earth, carrying the crew over both the North and South Poles.

The three-day trip was designed around research on the planet’s polar regions. Naturally, there was also time for a more urgent scientific question: what happens when a glass die meets zero gravity?

The experiment

In the video, Rogge is floating with Earth visible behind her and explains that she and the crew had “experimented” with a 20-sided die. The trick, she said, was to spin it, let it go, and then catch it before using the opening in her hand to see the result.

It is not exactly the most elegant dice-rolling method on record, but it does solve the main problem, which is that dice in space do not politely stay on the table.

Rogge’s result was a seven rather than the Natural 20 she was apparently hoping for, but the point stood. As she put it, “roleplaying in space is absolutely possible.”

In the caption, she added: “As a pen & paper nerd, I experimented with this 20-sided glass die (that caught the light beautifully) and found that the next round of D&D or similar in space is saved.”

Why this matters, sort of

For most people, this is not the kind of breakthrough that will reshape daily life. But it does mean that future astronauts have one more way to pass the time that does not involve staring at equipment manuals and pretending that counts as entertainment.

It also means the Artemis II crew, whenever they eventually head out, technically has access to a new in-flight hobby. Which is useful, especially if mission planners would rather they avoid any repeat of the now-famous $30 million toilet situation.

Still, the broader takeaway is simple enough: if you can manage the die, you can manage the dungeon. Gravity, apparently, is not a dealbreaker.