LIVE ORBIT STATION WATCH

When it crosses your sky

7 people are living up there right now — Expedition 75, four hundred kilometres over your head, going round the Earth every ninety minutes. Tell us the nearest town and we will work out the exact minute it comes over you, which way to face, and how high it climbs.

You can see all of this from a window. Nobody has to go anywhere.

Going up next

Every one of these is a real rocket on a real pad with a real clock running. Times are the current target and they move — that is what launch schedules do.

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How to actually see it

  1. It looks like a star that does not blink. Aircraft flash; this does not. It is the brightest thing moving up there.
  2. It crosses in a few minutes. Be at the window a couple of minutes early and look the way the card says.
  3. It can vanish mid-sky. That is not cloud — it has flown into the Earth's shadow. You have just watched a sunset happen four hundred kilometres up.
  4. You are looking at people. There is a crew on board. Wave if you like; it costs nothing and it is a nice thing to do.