The space station occupies an orbit roughly 250 miles (400 km) high, whose steep 52° inclination with respect to the equator causes it to pass over virtually all of Earth's populated areas. An interesting collection of images that show changes in the configuration of the space station is on NASA's Human Spaceflight website. From these modest beginnings, the ISS has continued to grow.
laboratory module (Destiny), a large array of solar panels, and the Canada2 mobile robotic arm were added in 2001. The addition of two more core modules, Unity and Zvezda ("Star"), paved the way for the arrival of the first crew in November 2000. The International Space StationĬonstruction of the ISS began on November 20, 1998, with the launch of the Russian-built module called Zarya ("Dawn"). Sometimes an appearance or disappearance occurs well up in the sky when the satellite emerges into sunlight or slips into Earth's shadow, respectively. Weather permitting, you should see a slowly and steadily moving "star." The "Departure" entries indicate where the spacecraft will be when it vanishes from sight. To see the spacecraft, look in the direction indicated by "Approach" at the given time. elevation" is how high the satellite will get above your horizon (90° is overhead). "Duration" indicates the length of each sighting in minutes. When you look at the results, "Local Time" is the instant the satellite first becomes visible and is listed for your time zone. The gray oval shows where the satellite is presently above the horizon.
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The current position of the selected spacecraft is shown, plus its ground track over the next hour at 5-minute intervals. This program will also show you in real time where the satellites are over Earth. To view passes of the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, or Tiangong 1, select ISS, HST, or TG1, respectively, from the satellite dropdown menu. You can even save your observing location for use at a later time. Select your city (or enter your latitude and longitude) and time zone and it will calculate potential passes for the next three days.
You can see exactly when three of bright satellites will be visible from your location using our Satellite Tracker.
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Instructions: How to Use S&T's Satellite Tracker Predict when and where to view the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, and Tiangong 1 using S&T's Satellite Tracker. Tiangong 1, literally translated as "Heavenly Palace," is China's prototype space station - a more advanced model is to follow in the mid-2020s. The Hubble Space Telescope, though more difficult to see, has taken some of the most iconic images we have of the cosmos. It's brighter than Jupiter and even rivals brilliant Venus as it creeps across the sky after dusk or before dawn.īut while ISS is the brightest humanmade object orbiting our planet, others rival it for personal significance. The brightest artificial satellite in the sky is the International Space Station (ISS) - which makes sense, because it's also the biggest.
Launch our Satellite Tracker! The International Space Station, nearing its final length of 250 feet, looks impressive in this image taken by a departing Space Shuttle crew in June 2007.