'Space Olympics': Watch ISS astronauts compete to celebrate the Summer Games in Tokyo

AS the Tokyo Olympics heads towards its finale, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have created their own brand of "Space Olympics".

Taking to Twitter, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet shared videos of the lighthearted competition online on August 6. According to the tweet, the ISS crewmembers split into teams for the first-ever space games, including synchronized floating and no-hand ball.

Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who arrived at the space station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, were on Team Dragon. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos were on Team Soyuz. Pesquet shared videos of the friendly games played by the crew members to celebrate the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

‘Space Olympics’ 

In the video, the two teams can be seen competing against each other in a no-hand ball game. According to the rules, the players must get a ping pong ball through hatch seals without touching it with any of their body parts. The crew members were allowed to use only their breath to move the ball around. 

Another clip showed astronauts playing ‘synchronised floating’, a game similar to synchronised swimming. “I think we’re about to see some magic,” said the narrator before the Soyuz team made synchronized moves inside the space station. They were seen taking very long jumps as they put mini flags of the participating countries atop the ISS lab. 

In another tweet, Pesquet said, "Weightless sharpshooting – concentration and skill (or luck) proved necessary to reach the target," as the crew celebrated the Olympic spirit. 

It is worth mentioning that ISS has now more than 20 years of continuous human presence. The ISS crew takes part in two and half hours of daily exercises in space to maintain their fitness levels. The crew is commanded by Akihiko Hoshide of Japan - where the Olympic Games are being held - with three Americans, two Russian cosmonauts and one French astronaut onboard.

(Image: AP/Twitter)