If you’ve ever stared up into the vastness of the universe on a clear night to watch the bright, white International Space Station whiz by, just know that the astronauts on board are watching something similarly inspiring.
The ISS is, without a doubt, the single most unique workplace in the world — or, orbiting it, technically. The work of the astronauts aboard the space station is no cakewalk, as the world’s best and brightest stellar explorers are expected to spend their full 16 hours of consciousness each day hard at work either conducting experiments, performing maintenance on the station or conditioning their bodies to prevent atrophy from the unnatural near-zero gravity environment. However, like many full-time workers down on Earth, the schedule of an astronaut on the ISS does come with days off — one and a half of them each week — as even the world’s most brilliant and brave scientists and engineers need to blow off some steam.
As such, NASA sends up a wide selection of movies and TV shows for American astronauts to watch during their downtime, and, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the list of options is available to the public — and to Gizmodo, who have been bravely chronicling the changing selection of NASA-approved streaming titles since 2016.
Included on the most recent list of shows are prestige dramas such as Yellowstone, thrillers like Severance, and, mercifully, the kinds of family-friendly, Chuck Lorre-created comedies that remind our orbital heroes that the good of humankind is worth the dangers of outer space.
Young Sheldon is now streaming on the ISS.
Given the resources of America’s space agency, NASA also includes comedy options for the less-refined palates that aren’t preferential to the Big Bang Theory prequel series — including The Big Bang Theory itself. Naturally, the entirety of Seinfeld is there as a go-to crowd-pleaser, and Friends is also available for streaming, though only Seasons 6 through 10 are currently in the ISS library. How I Met Your Mother is another addition to the list of options, but NASA wisely shelled out for just the first eight seasons, understanding that astronauts in a high-stress environment shouldn’t be subjected to that show’s disastrous finale.
Since no streaming data is yet available through the FOIA request, we can only guess which sitcom gets the most minutes of playtime aboard humankind’s collaborative low Earth orbit station. But, come on, wouldn’t the smartest people on and above Earth want to spend their free time watching the smartest middle-schooler in Texas crack wise with Meemaw?
I mean, her punchlines are out of this world!
