The Tokyo Olympics have ended, with the closing ceremonies wrapping things up Sunday (NBC will broadcast them Sunday night within the US). However earlier than we bid farewell to one of many extra uncommon Olympics in current reminiscence, the astronauts aboard the Worldwide Area Station have a number of last-minute entries for judges’ consideration.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Area Company posted a collection of 4 movies to Twitter displaying among the ISS astronauts performing — I suppose we’ll name them “routines”— in zero gravity that will make nice additions to future Olympics. They even hung little flags of all of the international locations represented over their efficiency space. The movies are fairly adorkable (and watch with the sound on, I promise it’s price it for the music and the play-by-play).
We begin with the “lack of flooring routine” gymnastics— I can’t determine the principles right here (is it contact nothing or contact the whole lot?) however everybody will get factors for fashion:
Area #Olympics 1/4:
Lack-of-floor routine – a lot to Pyotr for finishing his routine with out touching something, a troublesome feat!Health club 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
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021
Subsequent up is “no-handball” aka area discipline hockey, which appears a lot, a lot tougher in zero gravity, and so they form of adapt and modify the principles as they go alongside:
Area #Olympics 2/4:
No-handball – we needed to adapt the principles a bit through the match, a lot funding on each side for the win.Handball sans les mains – les règles ont dû être adaptées au cours d’un match que nous décrirons sobrement comme intense. pic.twitter.com/dVOv3GRThD
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021
That is my private favourite: “synchronized area swimming” they clearly labored laborious on these routines regardless of the dearth of water that the terrestrial model of the game requires:
Area #Olympics 3/4:
Synchronised area swimming – a chance to point out teamwork and crew cohesion.Flottation synchronisée – l’event de démontrer une des plus importantes compétences un astronaute : l’esprit d’équipe #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/Ljo65AkzNQ
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021
And eventually we now have weightless sharpshooting the place they shoot what appear like rubber bands at a makeshift goal:
Area #Olympics 4/4:
Weightless sharpshooting – focus and ability (or luck) proved crucial to succeed in the goal.Tir sans gravité – focus et persévérance ont dicté cette épreuve pour bien négocier la trajectoire des élastiques#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/eV2cSxEWQ5
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021
You guys, they even did a “closing ceremony” on Sunday; Aki Hoshide of JAXA (Japan’s area company) handed an Olympic flag to the Frenchman Pesquet, extraordinarily becoming because the 2024 Olympics can be in Paris.
The actual Olympics are nice and all, and congratulations to everybody who received a medal, however I believe watching astronauts twirl in synch with one another and bat round a tiny ball in area would draw big audiences to future video games. Get on it, Worldwide Olympic Committee.