Football fan sends Man United flag into space

The internet recently went crazy when a Jurgen Klopp banner was spotted ringside at a WWE Monday night RAW event in Chicago.

But if you thought that was special, wait until you hear what this Russian Manchester United fan has done. Alexey Yakovlev began supporting Manchester United in 2000 when he worked alongside some United supporters in Kosovo. Alexey, from Moscow, ordered a United flag from a friend in England: a United flag that would boldly go where no United flag had gone before. With help from his NASA astronaut mate, Steve Swanson, Alexey was able to send the flag into space for 169 days back in 2014. It orbited Earth 2,704 times. https://twitter.com/TotallyMUFC/status/650196432603992064 Ahead of Manchester United's game with CSKA Moscow, Alexey has been speaking to ManUtd.com. “I realised I could do it [send the flag to space] because I’ve been working as a translator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia. That’s how I made friends with Steve, who I do a lot of translating for. “Steve is American and is not a United fan but he quickly agreed to take my flag up to the International Space Station for me because he had some extra space in his own luggage. They are allowed to take 1.5kg up there and the flag only weighs 85 grams, so it was an easy fit. “I am very proud of what I did and I am proud of the photo because United means a lot to me. We’ve waved our flag up in space and I doubt very much that anybody can take it higher than that!” As much as we enjoyed the Klopp banner at the wrestling, this space travelling United flag takes some beating.