Plataforma Maestra - Rastreo Espacial Integral
Only used to work out the passes. Not stored.
The “Current” marker is the station's position right now, and the “Prediction (90m)” line is the path it will follow over the next hour and a half, roughly the time it takes to circle the Earth once. Meanwhile the Earth keeps turning beneath the orbit, so each lap is shifted westwards from the one before: that is why the line never retraces the same ground. “Activate 3D View” shows the same orbit on a globe, and “Show Starlink” adds the satellites of that constellation so you can compare their orbits with the station's; click one to see its path.
Velocity, altitude, latitude and longitude update while the page is open. The speed barely changes; the altitude does swing by a few kilometres over each lap and slowly drops because of drag from the thin remains of atmosphere at that height, until the engines of a docked spacecraft push it back up. Latitude never goes beyond about 51.6 degrees north or south, which is the inclination of its orbit: further from the equator than that, the station never passes directly overhead, although it can still be seen low on the horizon.
In the Visibility Calculator, press “Sync Position”. The table of upcoming visible passes gives, for each one, the time, the highest point it reaches above the horizon (in degrees and as a percentage: 90° straight overhead is 100%), how long it lasts and which way to look. “Simulate” plays the pass on the map before it happens. The page also sets a reminder for 30 minutes before the next pass: it reaches you as long as the tab stays open and your browser is allowed to show notifications.
Once your position is synced, the ISS pointing vector shows which direction the station is in relative to you. On a phone, “Find the ISS with the Camera (AR)” uses the camera and the compass: an arrow guides you until the dot appears on screen, and if the station is below your horizon at that moment it tells you so. If the phone's compass is not properly aligned to north, the dot may be off; the “Calibrate” button readjusts the elevation.
Further down you will find the crew currently in orbit, the latest news from the sector, NASA's live stream of the Earth seen from the station and a bank of official images. If all you want is the time of tonight's pass, the calculator is enough; if you want to understand why it passes when it does, the guide how to see the ISS tonight explains it step by step.
It depends on your location and the station's orbital inclination. Tap "Sync Position" in the Visibility Calculator on this same page: we calculate, right in your browser and with real-time orbital data, the next visible passes from where you are, with exact time, duration, and which part of the sky to look at.
Seeing it with the naked eye requires two things at once: it has to be above your horizon, and it still needs to be catching direct sunlight while you're already in darkness. That only happens in a short window after sunset or before sunrise; the rest of the night the ISS is also in Earth's shadow and invisible even when it passes overhead.
No. To the naked eye it looks like a very bright white point of light crossing the sky over a few minutes, without blinking (unlike a plane) and without changing direction. It's usually one of the brightest objects in the night sky.
It travels at about 27,600 km/h (7.66 km/s) at an average altitude of 400-420 km, completing one lap around Earth roughly every 90-93 minutes. You can see these figures updated live in the panel above on this page.
The number changes with every crew rotation. Check the Crew page to see who's aboard right now and which spacecraft they arrived on.
The current position comes from a public real-time API, and the future trajectory (the predicted-path line on the map) is calculated right in your browser from the ISS's official orbital parameters (TLE), which update automatically.