Tokyo Olympics 2020 'handing over' to Paris 2024 in space by astronauts from NASA & JAXA

The handover from #Tokyo2020 to #Paris2024 was literally 'out of this world' as the mega sports headed towards its finale. On August 8, a duo of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) depicted a handing over to 'Paris 2024' in a video clip from space.

The next Olympic and Paralympic Games will be organised in Paris, the commencement of which was indicated during a 'handing over' ceremony of Tokyo 2020. In the video, the two personnel held a 'ceremony' in zero gravity in space inside a spacecraft.

The official Twitter account of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 for India shared the clip of the handover from 'out of this world'. 

Taking to Twitter, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet shared videos of the lighthearted competition online on August 6. According to the tweet, "With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ending today and the next Olympics to be Paris 2024 Hoshide and I held a ceremony. With Aki, we got a little ahead of the closing ceremony while waiting for the real handover at Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024 in few hours."

Further, he shared images of Tokyo on the last day of the Olympic Games. Astronaut Pesquet wrote, "Tokyo was under the clouds when we passed over, but another salute for Tokyo 2020 on the last day of the Olympics."

"Space Olympics"

NASA and International Space Station (ISS) have created their own brand of "Space Olympics". According to a tweet, the ISS crewmembers split into teams for the first-ever space games, including synchronized floating and no-hand ball. Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who arrived at the space station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, were on Team Dragon. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos were on Team Soyuz. Pesquet shared videos of the friendly games played by the crew members to celebrate the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In the video, the two teams can be seen competing against each other in a no-hand ball game. According to the rules, the players must get a ping pong ball through hatch seals without touching it with any of their body parts. The crew members were allowed to use only their breath to move the ball around. 

In another tweet, Pesquet said, "Weightless sharpshooting – concentration and skill (or luck) proved necessary to reach the target," as the crew celebrated the Olympic spirit. 

It is worth mentioning that ISS consists of more than 20 years of continuous human presence. The ISS crew takes part in two and half hours of daily exercises in space to maintain their fitness levels. The crew is commanded by Akihiko Hoshide of Japan - where the Olympic Games are being held - with three Americans, two Russian cosmonauts and one French astronaut onboard.

Image Credit: Twitter