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WATCH: Want To Throw A Football More than 500,000 Yards? Just Head To Space

Matt Ryan is no slouch.

The Atlanta Falcons quarterback, who will be vying for Super Bowl LI on Sunday, drew plaudits all year for what many have called an MVP-caliber season. By the end of the season, Ryan racked up 4,944 passing yards.

Still, it took Ryan 16 games — and more than 500 throws — to get to that number.

Astronaut Tim Kopra just threw for 564,664 yards. And he did it on a single throw. Underhand.

Kind of.

In new video shot on the International Space Station, NASA posed the question: How far can you throw a football in a zero-G environment?

The answer, it turns out, is really, really far.

Factoring in the orbit of the ISS — which sets the station moving at a blistering 17,500 miles per hour, according to NASA — the space agency says that the football rotating slowly in the center of the frame is actually traveling 8,800 yards per second.

Sure, you may take issue with those caveats, but it's tough to dispute the video puts Sunday's action on the gridiron in a slightly different perspective.

But let's also be frank here, NASA: It's not a world record ... because technically, the toss didn't exactly happen on this world.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Colin Dwyer covers breaking news for NPR. He reports on a wide array of subjects — from politics in Latin America and the Middle East, to the latest developments in sports and scientific research.
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