First ever tennis match in space unfolds in incredible live footage beamed from the International Space Station

Incredible footage has shown NASA astronauts taking part in the first ever tennis match in outer space.

Earthlings watched in awe as the gravity-defying action unfolded live from the International Space Station.

The contest between NASA and European Space Agency flight engineers was streamed live as it happened in the early hours of Wednesday.

An astonishing live video of the match showed them rallying using tiny tennis rackets, with the ball floating slowly over a make-shift net as they made each shot.

Fans watched online as the astronauts rallied through the match, which was also beamed onto a 350-tonne steel global at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York.

Astronaut and tennis enthusiast Andrew Feustel took part in the match alongside NASA flight engineers Ricky Arnold and Serena Aunon-Chancellor, and European Space Agency flight engineer Alexander Gerst.

Ahead of the match, Mr Feustel, ISS commander of expedition 56, predicted how he thought it might go.

He said: "The fact that we don’t have gravity is hard. Balls won’t bounce, and gravity has no effect.

"To me, it’s going to seem like that old game Pong, where you hit the ball and the ball just goes straight; it doesn’t bounce on anything.

"So it’s going to be challenging. We might have to invent some new rules."

It is just the latest in a number of bizarre events to take place out the earth’s atmosphere this year, with Elon Musk blasting a Tesla roadster into orbit strapped to a SpaceX rocket in February.