[ad_1]
Soichi Noguchi shared this vision of Tampa from the space station. North is on the right. It’s Tampa International Airport in the middle, with Raymond James Stadium just below.
TAMPA, Florida – The Super Bowl LV in Tampa is going to have an out of this world hike.
Of course, the Air Force sends a rare trifecta of bombers above Raymond James Stadium at the end of the national anthem. But the International Space Station will also skyrocket later in the game.
The USAF’s B-1s, B-2s and B-52s will fly at around 1,000 feet, as they did during last week’s rehearsal. The space station, meanwhile, will be 268 miles high when it passes over Tampa at over 17,000 mph.
NASA says the station will appear in the northwestern sky at 7:15 p.m., about 45 minutes after kickoff. The station will look like a bright star moving northwest to southeast, reaching about 57 degrees in the sky – not quite two-thirds the height of the horizon.
The entire passage will take approximately seven minutes.
Two views: the practice of the Super Bowl flyover
Three US Air Force bombers flew over Raymond James Stadium on Friday night to train for the Super Bowl flyby on Sunday. A second B-1B replaced the expected B-2 for Sunday’s Real Thing.
Of course, the timing is a “super” coincidence, the result of orbital mechanics. The space station often passes over Florida when it circles the Earth every 90 minutes.
The seven astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the station should be able to see the well-lit stadium from space, especially using the long lenses they often use to photograph landmarks.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi offered a glimpse of the sight when he tweeted a photo of Tampa from the train station Friday.
In 2016, astronaut Scott Kelly took a photo of Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco – as the Broncos beat the Panthers in Super Bowl 50 – during his year in space.
[ad_2]
Source link