An American astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) has set a new sporting record by running the Boston Marathon while in space, NASA says.
Sunita Williams set off on the journey in space while harnessed by bungee cords to a space station treadmill as her earth-bound counterparts set off in the north-east US city of Boston for the annual run.
She "circled the earth at least twice, running as fast as 8mph but flying more than 5 miles each second," NASA said in a statement.(Making her marathon around 80,000 miles !!)
Williams, an accomplished marathon runner who said she ran in order to "encourage kids to start making physical fitness part of their daily lives," finished the 26 miles in four hours and 24 minutes.
She wore a bib with race number 14,000 and followed the progress of the earth marathon via laptop computer. While astronauts typically exercise while in orbit to maintain bone density under zero gravity conditions, no astronaut has ever before attempted Williams' marathon feat.
Williams, 41, also had an added advantage of running under better weather conditions than her Boston counterparts.
She qualified for the Boston marathon after running the Houston marathon last year in three hours 29 minutes.
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