ISS, December 17. /TASS Correspondent-Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin/. Crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS) symbolically played badminton aboard the orbital outpost to shine the spotlight on an active way of life.

The game involved members of the ISS crew and also Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano as non-professional participants in the space flight.

The friendly match aboard the space station was intended to draw attention to a serious demographic challenge in some countries, including Russia, that is manifested both in the general decline of the population and the growing number of retirees which are outstripping the active workforce.

The outer-space badminton players are certain that bolstering an individual’s health is a major tool to reverse the situation, which is facilitated by an active way of life, including badminton that was entered into the system of the cosmonaut’s physical training by the founding father of Soviet cosmonautics Sergey Korolyov in 1960.

Chairman of the Russian National Badminton Federation Council Andrey Antropov said in a live broadcast on Match TV during a communications session with the ISS that badminton tournaments were held in the Russian Cosmonauts’ Star City near Moscow with the participation of NASA members.

"We have arranged a large number of tournaments. These customary annual contests are called the Star Shuttlecock and organized in the Star City. On several occasions, we have arranged matches with NASA. During the pandemic period, a tournament with the participation of five NASA representatives was held that ended in a friendly victory," he said.

It is not the first time that a symbolic game was held in a state of weightlessness. Prior to that, a similar game took place in February 2018 and brought together Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Norisige Kanaj.

This time, the badminton match aboard the ISS coincided with the Badminton World Championship running in Spain on December 12-19.

On November 17, Russia’s world-renowned TASS news agency and the State Space Corporation Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, enabling the establishment of a TASS news office aboard the ISS. Under the agreement, Roscosmos cosmonaut, Hero of Russia Alexander Misurkin has become the first TASS correspondent in space. He now reports on the space station’s daily routine. His latest information from space is available to the agency’s readership from TASS news resources and his photo and video contributions are uploaded to the agency’s website and official pages on social media.

After their 12 days in orbit, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano will return to Earth on the morning of December 20.