Qatar World Cup 2022: SpaceX Launches Two Soccer Balls to Space and Back!

SpaceX and Qatar Airways just scored a literal out-of-this-world goal after launching two FIFA World Cup official match balls to outer space, as reported first by Space.com.

The soccer balls were loaded onto the Falcon 9 first stage and traveled 76 miles (123 kilometers) above our planet.

1,300-Kilometer Journey

When the balls returned to Earth with the rocket, they had completed the first leg of their 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) journey. After that, Qatar Airways flew the balls to Famad International Airport, where they were given to World Cup officials.

The World Cup match balls, which were produced by Adidas, are the first to use environmentally friendly water-based glues and inks. They are named "Al Rihla" which means "the journey" or "the excursion" in the Arabic language.

However, the Al Rihla has been replaced recently with "Al Hilm", which means "The Dream" in Arabic for the semifinals. The new ball is colored gold designed with gold details. It was heavily inspired by the deserts od Doha, Qatar's official flag, and of course the World Cup trophy.

Al Hilm will also be equipped with all the Adidas gadgets found in its predecessor. It has a sensor powered by a tiny battery which can also be charged just like smartphones.

It is also interesting to note that the launch of the match balls to space was the first instance in which SpaceX used the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket to launch a commercial payload into low-Earth orbit.

But according to Space.com, they are hardly the first soccer balls, much less World Cup match balls, to be launched into space.

Balls Sent to Space

Before the World Cup began in Moscow in 2018, Russian cosmonauts sent an Adidas "Telstar 18" ball to the International Space Station (ISS).

Over the course of its 74-day journey through space, the ball-which was autographed by the crew of the orbiting outpost-traveled more than 31 million miles (50 million km).

The astronauts and cosmonauts wanted to play their own little game to celebrate the World Cup happening on the ground using a different soccer ball that had been left on the space station.

SpaceX also transported several Adidas soccer balls a year later for analysis in the ISS National Laboratory on a Dragon cargo spacecraft.

Researchers wanted to learn more about the balls' flight characteristics through testing than was possible in a wind tunnel based on Earth. The results of the study were expected to give panel shape and texture designers more creative latitude.

A soccer ball was also discovered among the wreckage from the tragic Challenger space shuttle mission in 1986 and was sent to the International Space Station in 2017. The ball was launched into space in remembrance of the astronauts who have passed away from the tragic event.