Astronauts Play Zero-G Badminton, Film it In 360
Another space first.
Is it rude to point out that badminton is a summer Olympic sport, not winter? Never mind. In the spirit of international competition, the astronauts on the space station recently held their own, first-ever, badminton game in space.
And, following the example of NBC’s VR coverage of the Olympics, or maybe just because they could, they filmed it in 360 video (you can watch above, or with Google Cardboard).
The match likely came at the suggestion of cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, who’s a champion player and the leading force behind the admission of his native Orel region into the National Badminton Federation of Russia. Misurkin was clearly pleased with the zero-G game, saying afterward, “To me, that’s like planting a flag on Mars.”
Sure, maybe a little bit.