NASA astronauts on the International Space Station caught up with United States bobsled team Thursday before the 2014 Sochi winter olympics began.
Astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio and athletes talked about the games and fitness, a critical aspect to staying healthy while in orbit and space, with Curt Tomasevicz and additional bobsled team members via Google Hangout Space.com reported.
Jeannette Epps a NASA astronaut, Rich Froning, Jr., a CrossFit Games champion, and Jared Crick, a football player with the NFL's Houston Texans also gave their two cents to the space station from earth.
"We do a lot of science, we do a lot of maintenance on the station," Hopkins told Space.com. "But one of the most important things that we do - and one of the big reasons we here, obviously today - is to talk about fitness and exercise. We have between an hour and a half to two hours a day that's [a] dedicated part of our work time to exercise," Hopkins told Space.com.
"Within two weeks of launching and being up in space, my fitness level - as they [Mission Controllers] defined it - had dropped 15 percent," Hopkins told Space.com "From that point on, it's just a battle to get yourself back to that shape that you were in before you launched," Hopkins told Space.com.
Mastracchio and Hopkins are coordinating with the station's mission control center to transmit certain sports and events they and other astronauts favor Space.com reported.
Some coverage will be on a delay, while others might be available live. It will give the astronauts something to do during their spare time especially on weekend days Space.com reported.
"Go team U.S.A., certainly," Hopkins told Space.com. "We're looking forward to watching all of the events that we can up here. We'll certainly be watching bobsledding," Hopkins told Space.com.
