As Super Bowl Sunday kicks off, millions of households across the country will be hosting their own football-themed Super Bowl parties, complete with abundant booze and yelling at the television. One Super Bowl party, however, might be the most interesting one of all, and it won't even be located on this planet. That's right folks, the astronauts up at International Space Station (ISS) are going to have the Super Bowl beamed up to them for their viewing pleasure.
"Yes they are going to watch it this weekend," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly told SPACE.com in an email. He mentioned that Mission Control had asked the astronauts if they would be interested in watching the game. The answer was a resounding "Yes."
Of the six astronauts that make up Expedition 34 team, two of them are Americans, commander Kevin Ford and flight engineer Tom Marshburn. As of now, there's no report on which team the two will be rooting or whether the Canadian and Russian astronauts also on board even care about this idiosyncratic American past time. There's also no word on whether Mission Control has found a way to supply the astronauts with enough beer and chips to last through the four-hour commercial-ridden spectacle.
The Super Bowl will feature the San Francisco 49ers facing off against the Baltimore Ravens down in New Orleans. Most initial surveys show the public expects the 49ers to win, but given the fact that it is Ray Lewis's last game, look for the Ravens to play with their backs against the wall.
On a completely non-space related side note, who do you believe will win Super Bowl 2013?