NASA and Super Bowl

Here's the first of at least three Super Bowl entries.  All of these stories come from Space.com and were originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (NASA and Super Bowl) on Daily Kos.

First, Super Bowl In Space - Orbiting Astronaut Talks Big Game | Video.

NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio talks to Space.com's @MiriKramer about the Super Bowl, Olympics and more on Jan. 31st, 2014.

Super Bowl in Space: How Astronauts Celebrate the Big Game in Orbit
By Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer
February 01, 2014 08:23am ET

Super Bowl Sunday is an exciting day for football fans all over the United States, but NASA astronauts in space are also looking forward to the big game.

While astronauts on the International Space Station may not be able to throw a Super Bowl watch party like Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks fans on Earth, that doesn't mean they aren't interested in the biggest professional football game of the season. NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio won't be able to watch the Super Bowl live on Sunday (Feb. 2), but he's still planning on participating in the football festivities, and he doesn't want to hear any game-ruining spoilers...

"Hopefully Houston will uplink a version of it [the Super Bowl] the next day or within a few days and we'll get to watch it," Mastracchio told Space.com during a live interview today (Jan. 31). "We just have to be careful that no one tells us the score before we do that."

I'm enjoying Miriam's fangirling, even if the commenters over at the YouTube channel are rolling their virtual eyes at it.

Next, Super Bowl Space Tech: NASA Makes the Big Game Possible
by Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor
January 31, 2014 10:01am ET

NASA and the Super Bowl may not be two things you'd normally put in the same sentence together, but Sunday's big game wouldn't be the same without innovative spinoff technologies from space exploration.

From helmets to headsets to the communications satellites that allows fans to watch around the world, NASA's legacy can be found throughout the Super Bowl Sunday experience. So when the Seattle Seahawks face off against Denver's Broncos, the teams will have NASA to thank for some of their basic tech needs.

Here's a look at some of the NASA's space technology spinoffs (and some pop culture, too) that have found their way into Super Bowl:

Stay tuned for more science and sustainability at the Super Bowl later today.