Astronauts have home theatres to keep themselves entertained in space
Starship Troopers and Star Trek among more than 500 movies and TV shows available to astronauts on the ISS
One could argue that everything is neater in space. Mundane activities like eating, sleeping, and just looking out the window become exponentially more awesome.
Even a Friday night spent relaxing and watching a movie becomes just a little bit cooler when you’re doing it while orbiting the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour.
Last year, astronauts installed an HD projector and a 65-inch screen in the International Space Station (ISS). The new set-up was a huge step up from the small screens of the devices astronauts previously had to watch movies on.
“Its home theatre set-up puts most of our terrestrial TVs to shame,” Wired writes.
The set-up isn’t exclusively used for movie-viewing — astronauts also use it to make calls to their families back home or to touch base with Mission Control.
Knowledge of the ISS’ new entertainment system surfaced back down on Earth when station commander Scott Kelly tweeted a picture of the screen playing a scene from Gravity.