yo-yo despin

== English == === Alternative forms === yo-yo de-spin === Etymology === From the cables being wrapped around the spacecraft and unreeling in the manner of a double yo-yo. === Noun === yo-yo despin (uncountable) (astronautics) A method of reducing the rotation rate of a rapidly-spinning spacecraft by unreeling a pair of weights from the spinning spacecraft, greatly increasing the spacecraft's moment of inertia and transferring most of the spacecraft's angular momentum to the weights. ==== Related terms ==== yo-yo weight