You Saw KC Win The Super Bowl, Now Watch NASA Astronauts Throw A Football In Space

While the Super Bowl provided fans with a tantalizing overtime win for the Chiefs, two astronauts onboard ISS showed off their own football skills. The space agency also shared just how much of its technology is at play during the big game, as well as some interesting facts in football terms.

NASA astronauts were like most anyone else, in that they were pumped to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers square off to see who is the best in the NFL in Super Bowl LVIII. During a video created by NASA, astronauts were preparing to watch the big game, and two of them showed off their football prowess by tossing a football to one another in the weightless environment (see video below). What fans may not know, however, is just how much technology NASA is responsible for in the NFL.


In a blog post, NASA shared that the space agency is responsible for things on the NFL field such as shock-absorbent foam in helmets, to retractable stadium roofs. Teflon-coated fabric can be seen on top of buildings around the world, like football stadiums, malls, and other public buildings. The white fabric roofs were made possible by NASA technology developed for use in Apollo spacesuits.

NASA remarked, “Structures made from this moisture resistant fiberglass material - stronger than steel but weighing only five ounces per square foot - are energy efficient, immune to pollutants and ultraviolet rays, and are translucent enough for natural-grass playing fields.”


The story behind the creation of the fabric began with a tragedy. During an Apollo 1 test exercise, fire ignited and spread through the command module. It resulted in the deaths of the astronaut crew. NASA engineers immediately took to arms and began to redesign the spacesuits in order to improve the safety for astronauts. The new suit fabric was created by twisting ultra-fine glass filaments into yarns, which were then woven into a fabric and coated with Teflon.

A few more fun facts were shared by NASA in football terms, such as 4,625 footballs can fit inside the Orion crew module, the spacecraft for deep space missions. Another mentioned was that ISS measures 357 feet end-to-end, which is nearly the equivalent of a football field, including the end zones. Also, if someone threw a football to the Moon at 60mph, the average speed of an NFL pass according to NASA, it would take 3,982 hours, or 166 days, to get there.

The Kansas City Chiefs may be champions of the NFL, but it could be argued that NASA is champion of the Universe in terms of technology.