ISS Launches First ‘Space Olympics’ With Games Like Synchronized Space Swimming
Video screenshot via European Space Agency
While the whole world was watching the Olympics from a distance, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were much farther—they weren’t even under the same sky. So as not to wallow in FOMO, crew members of various space agencies competed in what has been considered the “first-ever Space Olympics.”
Split into two teams, Team Dragon (after SpaceX’s Crew Dragon) and Team Soyuz (after Russia’s Soyuz), Space Olympians went head to head in space-exclusive sports of ‘Synchronized Space Swimming’, ‘Lack-of-Floor Routine’, ‘No-Handball’, and ‘Weightless Sharpshooting’, with microgravity being their greatest obstacle.
While they tried their level best to overcome the Games’ challenges, the astronaut athletes didn’t take themselves too seriously and were evidently having fun. Rules were subject to “evolve” as the matches progressed, and everybody was fine with it.
The Space Olympics took place simultaneously with Tokyo 2020 on Earth, so who was really missing out now?
[via CNET, video and cover image via European Space Agency]
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