Nobody can accuse the Russians of not finding creative ways of financing their space program.

While the U.S. space agency, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), is prohibited by law from soliciting private funding, the Russians have allowed Pizza Hut to put their logo on a rocket ship, and space tourists have paid millions to fly aboard Russian spacecraft.

Now, Canadian golf club maker Element 21 Golf has paid an undisclosed sum for cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin to hit a light-weight ball using one of their gold-plated six-iron clubs from outside the International Space Station.

While NASA is said to have frowned upon the entire incident and tend to look down their noses at the stunts their Russian counterparts come up with to pay for their program, that hasn't prevented NASA from posting the video of the golf swing on their Web site.

I'll bet most people had never heard of Element 21 Golf prior to this unique and shrewd marketing endeavor. Their stock is trading at less than a quarter a share, and they appear to be losing money hand over fist. However, the Russian golf swing in space with their club is now the centerpiece of their marketing campaign, and the news it has generated makes it truly the shot heard 'round the world.