Tracking ISS - See it for yourself - Articles from Sigma Rockets

Tracking ISS – See it for yourself

Written by sigma on 28 September 2011

Time exposure of ISS in the night sky.
Image: Andreas Möller

It began in 1998 with the launch and orbit of the Russian space module Zarya. Construction continued through the 2000′s pausing after the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003. Finally in July 2011, on the last Space Shuttle mission, the International Space Station or ISS was completed. With a length of 51 metres, a width of 109 metres and a height of 20 metres, ISS is by far the largest space station ever constructed. Due to its size it can actually be seen with the naked eye from Earth. In this article I will discuss tracking ISS yourself.

International Co-operation

The space race of the 1950s and 60s was born from the cold war. The former Soviet Union and the United States were locked in a bitter campaign to conquer space. The Soviets struck first with the launching of the first satellite and then the orbiting of manned space craft around the Earth. The Americans countered by becoming the first and so far the only nation to put humans on the surface of the moon. The thought that one day these two rivals would co-operate on building a massive space station would have seemed preposterous a few decades ago.

Member organizations in the International Space Station project include NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (RSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). With an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees, ISS can be seen from 95% of the Earth’s inhabitable land.

ISS viewing for Toronto (click to enlarge)

The Mission

Currently crews as large as 6 inhabit the space station and generally rotate at 6 month intervals. As many as 13 people have occupied ISS at one time. ISS was set up to be a laboratory, observatory and factory in space.

In addition, it is intended to be used as a staging point for missions to the moon, Mars and other destinations. Commercial and educational duties have also been added. To get more information on ISS check out the wikipedia page here. As well you may check out the NASA ISS website here.

Tracking ISS yourself

The button below will launch the ISS tracker. You will see a world map and the current position over the Earth of ISS. Clicking on Sighting Opportunities takes you to another page. From there you may select your country from the left side. Then you would navigate to your city. I’ve included a screen shot of sighting opportunities for Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

As you can see the chart shows the approach and departure of the space station in the sky. Using a simple compass stand outside and position yourself so that you are facing the approach in direction and degrees. Look up at the sky at the time indicated. You should see a fast moving object directly above you. This is the International Space Station.

The thrill of Seeing It Yourself

Often space travel seems far removed from our daily lives. By taking the time to look for the largest man made object to ever orbit the Earth you are in some way connecting yourself to the world of space exploration and the wonders that it holds.