The International Space Station astronauts have their own version of the Olympics, too, as recently posted on Twitter by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
As indicated in a Futurism report, while the best athletes compete against each other in their respective fields of sports in Tokyo and go for the gold, a unique kind of competition took place 250 miles on top of their heads as the ISS astronauts had their own Olympic games.
On his Twitter account, Pesquet posted a series of amusing tweets in which astronauts aboard the ISS were competing for various games. The games they competed against included the Lack-of-floor routine, No-hand ball, Synchronized space swimming, and weightless sharpshooting.
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The First Space Olympics
According to Space.com, astronauts onboard the ISS were able to watch the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics via a video feed, and they have been cheering on their respective countries' representatives.
The International Space Station is commanded by Akihiko Hoshide, a Japanese astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. It is also home to three American astronauts, a pair of Russian astronauts and one French astronaut, with the European Space Agency.
Seemingly, the team has gotten into the Olympic spirit with its cosmic games. On Twitter, Pesquet wrote, this is the first Space Olympics.
He also said, for crew unity, they put together a friendly competition between the Soyuz and the Crew Dragon teams "with sports specific to space."
Space Games
Certainly a unique sports event in space, games in the ISS Olympics are designed specifically for the astronauts and cosmonauts in space. The Lack-of-floor routine, for one, is played by completing a routine without touching anything.
Space #Olympics 1/4:
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021
Lack-of-floor routine – much 👏 to Pyotr for completing his routine without touching anything, a difficult feat!
🥇
Gym hors-sol – on ne dirait pas comme ça, mais les immobilisations en plein vol de Piotr requièrent une grande expérience#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/gXAHSHHmcu
Then, there's the No-hand ball game, with which, Pesquet said on hits Twitter post, they needed to adapt the rules a bit during the competition, "much investment" on both competing teams for the win.
Thirdly, the synchronized space swimming, which the French astronaut described as an opportunity to exhibit teamwork and unity among the crew.
Lastly, weightless sharpshooting is a test of concentration and skill, or even luck, which proved essential to reach the target.
Pesquet announced the start of the first-ever "Space Olympics" on Twitter a week ago to mark the beginning of the Tokyo Olympics.
In this unique Olympics, according to a similar report from the Daily US Post, instead of setting as rivals the space athletes by country though, as this report specified, the ISS astronauts put their own spin on things.
Who Gets the Gold and Silver?
No word yet on which of the Soyuz and Crew Dragon teams took home gold or silver, but it is fair to say that the latter dominated the former, at least in the synchronized space swimming event.
However, the no-floor routine feat of Soyuz, according to this report, could "could give Simone Biles a run for her money." No word yet, though, on whether or not the Russian cosmonauts made it to the doping test.
Also, according to the Futurism report, all joking aside, the videos shown on Twitter by Pesquet are hilarious and absolutely heartwarming exhibitions of the fun and camaraderie the countries can have when working together. There is definitely something to learn from these amazing astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS.
Highlights from the first-ever space Olympics is shown on NASA's YouTube video below:
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