2018 FIFA World Cup: Russian Astronauts Play Football With Official Ball in Space, Watch Video
The official ball called Telstar 18 was taken to the space station by Artemyev on March 24 on the manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-08.
The FIFA World Cup fever is not just limited to the countries participating but has gone at a much higher level. The Football kicks have been felt in space and we are not kidding when we say this! Russian astronauts Anton Shkaplerov and Oleg Artemyev, aboard the International Space Station tested the official ball that will be used for the FIFA World Cup 2018 matches by playing a match up there. The video of this game has caught everyone by surprise and only make the football fans more excited about the games which start from June 14 in Russia. FIFA World Cup 2018 Schedule in IST for PDF Download: Fixtures, Groups, Time Table with Match Timings & Venue Details of Football WC in Russia.
The official ball called Telstar 18 was taken to the space station by Artemyev on March 24 on the manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-08. It was purposely taken to the space to be tested before the games. And what better way then to swift it for a goal in zero gravity! Both the cosmonauts are seen trying to score each other and also do some acrobatics in the process. Not to miss their soccer tricks! The ball was being tested so that there are no goof-ups during the matches.
Take a look at the video of the two astronauts playing Football in ISS:
There are other three NASA astronauts Scott Tingle, Richard Arnold and Andrew Feustel along with Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai aboard the space station. The Telstar will be brought back to the Earth on June 3, by the returning scientists. Other preparations are also going on and the oracle for 2018 FIFA is also being made ready. The ball was first unveiled to the world in November 2017. Now it was transported out of the world and is set to return. The excitement among the fans is rising as the matches begin in about two weeks. The football World Cup will kick off in two weeks.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 03, 2018 03:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).