Angry Birds has already conquered the world... now it's taking over SPACE as orbiting astronaut shows off zero-gravity version of the game

A bizarre video of an astronaut playing a real life version of the popular Angry Birds game 240 miles above earth has become an online hit.

It sees International Space Station flight engineer Don Pettit explaining the properties of physics in space using props from the game.

'I want to do some physics demonstrations of some of the things you might see in the game,' he says, before drawing a pig, 'the arch enemy of angry bird' he explains, onto a balloon.

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Learning tool: International Space Station flight engineer Don Pettit explains the properties of physics in space using props from the game Angry Birds

The astronaut, floating in zero gravity, then produces a toy and two eggs, telling viewers ‘don’t ask how I got the eggs onto the space station’.

Finally, he reaches for a slingshot and catapults the toys down a corridor inside the International Space Station interior to show their trajectory.

'If you understand the maths and the physics it will let you go out and get a neat job - a job sort of like mine,' he tells viewers.

The video has already attracted almost a million hits on YouTube.

Props: The astronaut, floating in zero gravity, produces the toy bird with a green balloon to represent the game's pig, followed by two eggs

Positioning: After setting up a slingshot within the International Space Station's interior, he catapults the red bird down a corridor to show its trajectory which is a straight line, without a curve because of the lack of gravity

NASA said it had got involved in the bizarre launch for a new version of the Angry Birds game to try and educate children.

'This collaboration began with a simple Twitter exchange about birds and pigs in space, and it has grown into a tremendous outreach and education opportunity,' David Weaver, a NASA spokesman, said.

'Games are fun and entertaining, but they also can be inspirational and informative. This is an exciting way to get people engaged with NASA's missions of exploration and discovery, and get students energized about future careers in science and technology.'

Formulating the launch: The astronaut demonstrates with graphics how on earth, gravity would bend the space shuttle's launch requiring them to formulate its precise curve to hit the space station

Mission complete: The astronaut explains that excelling in math and physics, that start with the basics found in Angry Birds, could one day earn a job like his working in space

Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio , which makes the game, said the company wanted to create something 'unique' for the game launch.

'NASA has been the perfect partner for our Angry Birds Space program, and we can't wait to work with them on creating more compelling educational experiences,' Vesterbacka said.

The new game, available on March 22nd and called Angry Birds Space, features 60 initial levels, new characters and uses gravity pulls from nearby planets to make the game more complex.

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