A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station demonstrated a few soccer ball tricks in low gravity – just in time for the World Cup. Astronaut Jessica Meir showed spinning different soccer balls in low gravity, showing how a soccer ball’s design affects its physics in such an environment.

Low-Gravity Physics

“What you see here is a soccer ball that passes one of the most important tests in sports engineering: Balance-mass distribution,” she says in the video, which is part of the agency’s “STEMonstrations” series. The research contributed to studies used in the development and evaluation of soccer balls for major international tournaments, including FIFA World Cup competition.

Original reporting: KOCO Sports (Oklahoma City) — read the source article.