Watch Cosmonauts Cheer for Russia's 2018 World Cup Win Over Spain

It's official: Russia's stunning victory over Spain in a 2018 World Cup match Sunday (July 1) is out of this world. 

While Russians (and fans of Team Russia) around the world celebrated the country's stunning upset over Spain, two cosmonauts in space cheered for their home team from off the planet. And they looked the part, too. 

Clad in "Team Russia" shirts, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev watched the big game on a laptop screen from inside the station's Russian-built Zvezda module, celebrating as Russia beat Spain 4-3 in a penalty-kick shootout after the score was locked at 1-1. In a video shared by Artemyev, the cosmonauts cheer for Russia's soccer team, pumping their fists in the air and forming victory signs with their hands. [Russia's Space Traditions! 14 Things Every Cosmonaut Does for Launch]

"Team #Russia have defeated Spain on penalties to make it to the #FIFA2018 World Cup quarterfinals," Artemyev wrote on Twitter to celebrate. A soccer ball is visible just above the laptop the cosmonauts are watching.

It's a special moment for the cosmonauts for sure. After all, Russia is hosting the 2018 World Cup. Artemyev and another cosmonaut (Anton Shkaplerov, who returned to Earth last month) even played soccer in space to celebrate the event. Shkaplerov also brought a special soccer ball home from space last month so it could be presented to FIFA officials during the 2018 World Cup opening ceremonies

Russia now goes on to the quarterfinals and will face off against Croatia on Saturday (July 7). That game, you can be sure, will be watched in space by two die-hard Team Russia fans.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.