The first TikTok video shot in space

An ESA astronaut has shown what life is like on the International Space Station in a TikTok video lasting nearly a minute and a half. 

Samantha Cristoforetti Italian astronaut in video gave TikTok followers a tour of the ISS, even showing them the stuffed animals brought to the space station. The video was understandably a huge success, with over 658 000 views and nearly 1400 comments at the time of writing.

Cristoforetti a Crew-4 mission members travelled up to the International Space Station to carry out 200 different experiments with colleagues to help prepare for a longer stay on the Moon and eventually Mars. The four astronauts left for the ISS at the end of April, where they are scheduled to spend six months.

Last week, the ESA also published a video with German astronaut Matthias Maurer, which gives an insight into the lives of astronauts preparing for a lay-up. The video shows the astronaut brushing his teeth and cleaning himself in a special bathroom where, even with the right equipment, it is not easy to perform the activities that are commonplace on Earth.

52-year-old Matthias Maurer is the Crew-3 mission, which launched to the International Space Station last November and returned to Earth on Friday morning after 173 days in space. During the mission, the astronauts carried out hundreds of scientific experiments, studying the characteristics of cotton cells grown in space and harvesting chilli peppers grown on the space station.