--- title: American, Russian Astronauts Played Space Badminton on ISS description: Playing badminton in space required special "space rules," astronauts say. canonical: https://time.com/5137643/astronauts-badminton-space-iss/ author: Emily Price article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-07T18:39:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:11:20.824Z article:section: Science og:title: Americans Just Took on Russia in Outer Space's First Badminton Game og:description: Playing the game required special "space rules" og:url: https://time.com/5137643/astronauts-badminton-space-iss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf627a39cf2ccb1be/6988faef7cdbac9489d5bdc4/space-badminton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3032 og:image:height: 1706 og:image:alt: Space Badminton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Just Took on Russia in Outer Space's First Badminton Game twitter:description: Playing the game required special "space rules" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf627a39cf2ccb1be/6988faef7cdbac9489d5bdc4/space-badminton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Just Took on Russia in Outer Space's First Badminton Game > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5432a066-bcfc-4da0-b3ed-2823ab97b157&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Emily Price](https://time.com/author/emily-price/) ## Emily Price Feb 7, 2018 6:39 PM UTC  Mission specialist Piers J. Sellers participates in the mission's third and final spacewalk July 13, 2006. Mission specialist Piers J. Sellers participates in the mission's third and final spacewalk July 13, 2006. NASA—Getty Images by [Emily Price](https://time.com/author/emily-price/) ## Emily Price Feb 7, 2018 6:39 PM UTC Elon Musk may have [caught a ton of headlines Tuesday](http://time.com/5137113/elon-musk-tesla-roadster-space/) with SpaceX’s launch of [the Falcon Heavy rocket](http://time.com/5137141/space-x-falcon-heavy-memes/), but aboard the International Space Station (ISS), another first was also taking place: Space’s first badminton game. American astronauts teamed up with Russian cosmonauts and a Japanese astronaut to make the game happen. Playing in zero gravity reportedly involved adding a new layer of “space rules” to the game. A few videos of the experience made their way onto Twitter: > [](https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/960876595677421569) > [](https://twitter.com/CormacWalsh/status/960966730205089792) Given the wonky rules and even more adventurous gameplay, the teams reportedly didn’t keep score. Instead, they decided that “friendship won” in the end. Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Misurkin, one of the Russians who participated in the game, is a champion badminton player. After the game he compared the game aboard the ISS as “the same as putting a flag on Mars,” [reports _I_nternational Business Times](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/watch-astronauts-play-space-badminton-first-time-ever-international-space-station-1659364). After the game, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei suggested that it might be time for officials to consider adding an ISS module specifically for playing games. But That might not happen, since the fate of the space station overall is currently unknown. President Trump has said he is considering ending funding for the ISS by 2025. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5137643/astronauts-badminton-space-iss/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5137643/astronauts-badminton-space-iss/"},"headline":"Americans Just Took on Russia in Outer Space's First Badminton Game","datePublished":"2018-02-07T18:39:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:11:20.824Z","description":"Playing the game required special \"space rules\"","url":"https://time.com/5137643/astronauts-badminton-space-iss/","keywords":["Space","NASA","astronauts","international space station","space travel","iss","onetime","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf627a39cf2ccb1be/6988faef7cdbac9489d5bdc4/space-badminton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emily Price","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emily-price/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf627a39cf2ccb1be/6988faef7cdbac9489d5bdc4/space-badminton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Space Badminton","caption":"Space Shuttle Astronauts Work Aboard Space Station","creditText":"NASA—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5137643/astronauts-badminton-space-iss/","name":"Americans Just Took on Russia in Outer Space's First Badminton Game"}}]}] ```