"In space, no one can hear you scream," warned the trailer for the 1979 film, "Alien." Based on recent reports, however, we now have cause to question this claim. According to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), viewership for table tennis in the 2020 Olympics topped all other sports in China. At one point, 350 million unique viewers were tuned in to watch live TV coverage of the Women’s Team final. For the sake of comparison, a paltry 106 million viewers tuned in for the last episode of "M*A*S*H," a record which stood for nearly three decades. As if to illustrate the extent of table tennis' popularity in China, the China Manned Space Agency today reported that three Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou XII followed the Olympics from space. Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo all derived long-distance inspiration from the exploits of Ma Long and company, which helped the astronauts get pumped as they exercised to mitigate the effects of zero gravity on their bodies. "Technically, we can connect them to live broadcasts, but they've chosen to watch transmitted recordings during their time off, because there are so many tasks for them to complete," explained the agency. "So far, they have watched several ping-pong matches and diving events." With China winning four of the five gold medals on offer in table tennis, it is likely that more than one shout of excitement escaped the brave scientists' lips. Within their pressurized cabin, sound travels just as easily as on Earth. So, it would seem, that someone can hear you scream in space after all. Luckily for China, they were good screams (and not the face-hugging, chest-bursting kind).

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