--- title: Space Station Crew Celebrates World Cup description: Astronauts on the International Space Station got into the World Cup spirit with a game of zero-gravity soccer canonical: https://time.com/2864323/space-station-crew-world-cup/ author: Abby Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-12T14:32:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:22:51.496Z article:section: Science og:title: Space Station Crew Celebrates World Cup og:description: Astronauts on the International Space Station got into the World Cup spirit with a game of zero-gravity soccer og:url: https://time.com/2864323/space-station-crew-world-cup/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ee222707a9af0a0/6986974a361760d93690c94d/socer-ball.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3072 og:image:height: 1728 og:image:alt: soccer-ball og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Space Station Crew Celebrates World Cup twitter:description: Astronauts on the International Space Station got into the World Cup spirit with a game of zero-gravity soccer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ee222707a9af0a0/6986974a361760d93690c94d/socer-ball.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # World Cup Mania Makes It to Outer Space > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Abby Abrams](https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/) ## Abby Abrams Jun 12, 2014 2:32 PM UTC  soccer ball isolated on black soccer ball isolated on black Michael Krinke—Getty Images by [Abby Abrams](https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/) ## Abby Abrams Jun 12, 2014 2:32 PM UTC The World Cup begins Thursday in Brazil, and International Space Station crew members celebrated the event’s kickoff by playing some floating soccer. In this video, crew members Steve Swanson, Reid Wiseman, and Alexander Gerst kick around a soccer ball while floating around a room in the space station. Soccer minus gravity would make a poor sporting event — but it makes for one awesome video. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2864323/space-station-crew-world-cup/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2864323/space-station-crew-world-cup/"},"headline":"World Cup Mania Makes It to Outer Space","datePublished":"2014-06-12T14:32:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:22:51.496Z","description":"Astronauts on the International Space Station got into the World Cup spirit with a game of zero-gravity soccer","url":"https://time.com/2864323/space-station-crew-world-cup/","keywords":["World Cup"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ee222707a9af0a0/6986974a361760d93690c94d/socer-ball.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Abrams","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ee222707a9af0a0/6986974a361760d93690c94d/socer-ball.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"soccer-ball","caption":"soccer ball","creditText":"Michael Krinke—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/world-cup/","name":"World Cup"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2864323/space-station-crew-world-cup/","name":"World Cup Mania Makes It to Outer Space"}}]}] ```