As the human race continues and expands its exploration of space, along for the ride is something besides millions of dollars worth of spacecraft and equipment: sports.
In their small amount of free time, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), as well as other spacecrafts, have been slowly developing sports and competitive activities to keep morale high. American astronaut Peggy Whitson organized fun, albeit slightly risky, relay races across the ISS during her second mission in 2007. That same year, American astronaut Sunita Williams became the first person to run the Boston Marathon from the ISS. Garrett Reisman, then on a mission for NASA, mentioned the accidental discovery of a sport while filling water bottles in 2008: “We realized how massive these bags were and we started tossing them, kind of like a medicine ball. Then you realize you could toss and catch and go for a ride on this big thing as it takes you away.”
In zero gravity, some sports take on new dimensions. In 2006, Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang threw a Frisbee in outer space, breaking the record for time spent aloft by a Frisbee. After throwing the ceremonial first pitch for a Yankees–Red Sox baseball game from the ISS in 2008, Reisman mentioned having to learn to throw in a straight line, since a traditional parabolic toss there would not be able to return the ball to the ground in the absence of gravity.
In the future, administering sports in outer space could be a potential aspect of space tourism. Several startup groups in recreational space travel are expected to eventually construct zero-gravity stadiums for sports. Evidently, this will begin on a small scale, but even then the expenses of space travel make it questionable that space tourism will become widely available anytime soon.
With this developing futuristic notion of playing sports without gravity, there is a possibility of ever more fantastical activities. As people become more innovative with this concept, even sports such as Quidditch could become a realistic possibility. Depending on growth rates in the industry, a zero-gravity Olympics held in outer space may not be too farfetched either.