Thanks to a little help from Houston Mission Control, Astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the ISS was able to watch the Super Bowl from space this Sunday.
Even astronauts hurtling around the Earth’s orbit floating in the International Space Station want to watch the Super Bowl, so it’s a good thing that Mission Control Houston was able to provide this year’s Panthers/Broncos game for NASA astronauts in the ISS — and Astronaut Scott Kelly was able to snap an incredible photo from way above Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California during the event itself.
According to Space.com, the crew of the ISS was able to watch the game in real time while orbiting the Earth.
Before the game, NASA commented about the event in an email with Space.com.
“Crew will be able to watch in real time; it will be sent up as usual for live events from Mission Control Houston,” NASA spokesman Dan Huot said. “It’s a nominal off-duty Sunday for the entire crew, so no additional tasks from them aside from exercise.”
As Mr. Huot said, there is a precedent for this sort of thing. Typically, the crew of the ISS are able to catch big important games via livestream from Houston Mission Control. Astronaut Scott Kelly, for example, was able to watch football on Thanksgiving with former crew member Kjell Lindgren.
Kelly joked on Twitter that he had a Super Bowl party but no one came, and said he would have served nachos. Kelly is in the midst of a year-long mission aboard the ISS, the longest for an American astronaut.
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