Sunita Williams celebrates 59th birthday, second in space
Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams has celebrated her 59th birthday -- the second in space.
From synchronised space swimming to ‘lack of floor routine’ gymnastics, astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) enjoyed their own Olympics games in zero gravity before holding a ‘closing ceremony’ to bid goodbye to Tokyo 2020.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the ESA posted a series of videos on Twitter over the weekend, showing some of the ISS astronauts performing their favourite games sans gravity.
They also had a ‘weightless’ sharpshooting session where they shoot what look like rubber bands at a makeshift target.
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“Weightless sharpshooting – concentration and skill (or luck) proved necessary to reach the target,” posted the French astronaut.
During the synchronised space swimming, the astronauts worked hard on the routines despite the lack of water.
“Synchronised space swimming — an opportunity to show teamwork and crew cohesion,” Pesquet posted.
“No-handball — we had to adapt the rules a bit during the match, much investment on both sides for the win,” he added.
The astronauts even hung little flags of all the countries represented over their performance zones.
Finally, they held a closing ceremony where Aki Hoshide of JAXA (Japan’s space agency) handed an Olympic flag to Pesquet, as Olympics 2024 is slated to happen in Paris.
The president of IOC, Thomas Bach, declared the 32nd Olympic Games closed on Sunday as the Olympic flag was handed over to France, the host of the 2024 Paris Games.
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