'So excited!' Tennis star Bouchard marks historic SpaceX launch with NASA-themed throwback

Canadian tennis star Genie Bouchard seemed as excited as anyone at the historic SpaceX launch on Saturday, posting some throwback pictures from a NASA-themed night out in its honor while following the event live.

SpaceX – owned by billionaire eccentric Elon Musk – became the first private company to launch NASA personnel into space when its Falcon rocket with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday. 

The pair are bound for the International Space Station (ISS), and it marked the first time in almost a decade that a manned space launch had taken place on US soil, with NASA previously relying on Russian Soyuz rockets to deliver people to space since the shutdown of its own shuttle program in 2011.

One avid witness to the event was tennis starlet Bouchard, who showcased her delight at the launch with her more than 2 million Instagram followers.  

"So fkn excited," the 26-year-old ace wrote, along with an image of the launch on her TV and live feed of the astronauts on her computer. 

© Instagram @geniebouchard

She took the space fandom further by sharing throwback pictures from a girls' night out back in 2018, when she and friends had all donned NASA gear.

"Your NASA/SpaceX crew currently in orbit,  then when we landed back on earth," she captioned the images. 

Bouchard's NASA gear regularly gets an airing on her accounts – also following her to Disney World in Florida last year and Houston, Texas. 

The SpaceX launch appears to have a been among the highlights from the past few months for the Las Vegas-based Bouchard, who like her fellow tennis pros has been forced off the courts due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Bouchard has still managed to stay in the headlines though, first by sparking a social media stampede when she hinted she was in search of a boyfriend to spend quarantine with.

READ MORE: Tennis temptress Bouchard needs a quarantine doubles partner... and there's no shortage of offers (PHOTOS) 

The Canadian ace then did her bit for charity by raising substantial sums for agreeing to dates with fans – first netting $4,000 for a good cause by holding an online rendezvous with comedian Bob Menery, and then raising an incredible $85,000 at an auction for a dinner date and match experience. 

Bouchard, a 2014 Wimbledon finalists, recently returned to the courts and will set about improving on her lowly current ranking of 332 when play finally resumes on the WTA tour.