Houston, June 20 -- The official match ball for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Trionda, has reached space, with astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) conducting experiments to study football dynamics and ball performance in microgravity.

Sharing images and details of the experiment, in a post on Instagram, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said the ISS crew recreated a 2019 study using the Adidas-made Trionda football to examine how balance and centre of mass affect a ball's movement.

"The official FIFA World Cup ball went to space," NASA said, adding that sports engineers carefully measure and optimise a football's centre of mass and balance to ensure predictable movement during play.

According to th...