Soichi Noguchi shared this view 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, Fla. – The Super Bowl LV in Tampa will have an out-of-this-world flight.
Of course, the Air Force is sending a rare bomber mess over Raymond James Stadium when the national anthem ends. But the International Space Station will also be flying high later in the game.
The USAF B-1, B-2 and B-52 will be flying at 1,000 feet or more, as they did in last week’s rehearsal. The space station, in turn, will be 268 miles high when passing through Tampa at more than 17,000 mph.
NASA says the station will appear in the northwestern sky at 7:15 pm, about 45 minutes after the start of the operation. The station will look like a bright star moving from northwest to south-southeast, reaching about 57 degrees in the sky – not exactly two-thirds of the horizon.
The entire ticket will take about seven minutes.
Two views: practical Super Bowl flyby
Three U.S. 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 game.
Of course, the timing is a ‘super’ coincidence, the result of orbital mechanics. The space station frequently passes over Florida while circling the Earth once every 90 minutes.
The seven astronauts and cosmonauts on board the station must be able to see the well-lit stadium from space, especially with the help of the long lenses they usually use to photograph landmarks.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi offered a preview of the view when tweeted a photo from the Tampa station on Friday.
In 2016, astronaut Scott Kelly took a picture of Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco – while the Broncos defeated the Panthers in Super Bowl 50 – during his year in space.