[NASA] The World Cup From 250 Miles Up

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3. The World Cup From 250 Miles…

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July 26, 2022

In summer 2026, sixteen stadiums across North America hosted matches as part of the

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. Over the years, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have captured a top-down view of the infrastructure, landscapes, and ecosystems surrounding many of these venues.  

Six of the matches were played at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, beginning on June 13 with a match-up between Qatar and Switzerland. This stadium (also called Levi’s Stadium) is located in Santa Clara, California, adjacent to San Jose and around 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of San Francisco. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photo (above) on July 26, 2022.

The stadium, completed in 2014, is surrounded by a mix of recreational, housing, and business infrastructure. The scene includes the southern part of San Francisco Bay, which is 23 years into a

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to restore up to 90 percent of the region’s salt ponds to tidal wetlands and marshlands, while retaining some of its salt-making heritage.

The Bay Area hosted its sixth and final World Cup match on July 1, when the U.S. faced off against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a knockout match. The U.S. advanced to the round of 16 following a

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.

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April 17, 2022

The

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is scheduled for July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium, part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The stadium (also called MetLife Stadium) sits along the New Jersey Turnpike, west of Midtown Manhattan. Note that north is toward the bottom-right of this photo, captured by an astronaut on April 17, 2022.

The area has seen

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. Colonists cleared wetlands and cedar forest for settlements, and development for a range of economic and industrial uses followed. In the 20th century, it became an unregulated dumping ground. In recent decades, though, wetland restoration efforts have occurred alongside the development of the sports and entertainment complex.

Other World Cup host cities have also appeared in astronaut photography and satellite imagery.

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(Estadio Akron),

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(SoFi Stadium),

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(NRG Stadium/Reliant Stadium), and

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(BC Place) are among the venues that have been observed from above.

Astronaut photograph

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was acquired on July 26, 2022, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 400 millimeters, and astronaut photograph

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 was acquired on April 17, 2022, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 1150 millimeters. They are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The images were taken by a member of the 

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 crew. The images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The 

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 supports the laboratory as part of the 

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 to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC 

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. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

Downloads

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July 26, 2022

JPEG (17.97 MB)

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April 17, 2022

JPEG (3.18 MB)

References & Resources

• NASA (2026, July 1)
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  . Accessed July 6, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2026, June 12)
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  . Accessed July 6, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2023, March 5)
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  . Accessed July 6, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2016, February 11)
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  . Accessed July 6, 2026.
• New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (2023)
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  . Accessed July 6, 2026.
• U.S. Geological Survey (2023)
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  . Accessed July 6, 2026.

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