ISS Schedule

Published October 24, 2026 · Updated October 24, 2026

Something happens on the station almost every week: a cargo ship arrives, a crew heads home, two astronauts suit up to work outside, or a school talks to them over the radio. This schedule puts everything that already has a date into a single list, converted to your time zone, and tells you where to follow each event.

The list updates itself several times a day. Spaceflight dates shift a lot, so check the note on each event: a confirmed date is not the same as one that's still to be set.

What each type of event means

Launch

A spacecraft lifts off for the station: either a cargo ship carrying food, water, fuel and experiments (Progress, Dragon, Cygnus, HTV-X) or a crewed spacecraft (Soyuz, Crew Dragon). The announced date is almost always "no earlier than": a launch can slip, but it never moves up. A Russian cargo ship takes either about three hours or two days to get there; a Dragon takes around a day.

Spacewalk

Two astronauts go outside to swap out equipment, install panels or retrieve experiments. Spacewalks usually last six to seven hours. Crews on the US segment go out through the Quest airlock, and Russian crews through the Poisk airlock. NASA tends to announce the start time only a few days ahead, which is why many spacewalks show up here first with "time to be announced." We cover them in detail in spacewalks on the ISS.

Docking and undocking

A spacecraft attaches to one of the station's ports or separates from it. Soyuz, Progress and Dragon dock on their own; others, like Cygnus, fly in close and the robotic arm grabs them and sets them in place (this is called berthing). Whatever arrives usually stays for weeks or months.

Return to Earth

A spacecraft that has left the station comes home: Soyuz capsules land in Kazakhstan, and Dragons splash down off Florida or California. Progress and Cygnus don't come back: they burn up on reentry, loaded with the station's trash.

School radio contact

These are ARISS contacts: about ten minutes in which a group of students asks an astronaut their questions over ham radio. You can hear them live on 145.800 MHz if the station is passing over your area, and if not, through the receivers on our ISS radio page.

Why the dates change so often

A launch depends on the weather at the launch site and in the first-stage recovery zone, on the rocket and spacecraft being ready, and on the station having a free port. If any of that falls through, everything behind it moves too: a cargo ship that slips pushes back the spacewalk that was going to use its spare parts. That's why you'll see three statuses in this schedule:

• Date confirmed: everything is ready and the countdown is on track.
• Date to be confirmed: there's a day and time, but the final go-ahead hasn't come yet.
• Date not set yet: only the month is known, or not even that. Events with just a year are listed separately under "No date yet."

How to follow each event

For launches, upcoming launches has the countdown, the rocket's flight path and the option to get an alert on your phone before liftoff. Spacewalks and dockings are streamed live; we collect the broadcasts in live spacewalks and in dockings and special events.

And if you'd rather see the station with your own eyes, the monthly visibility report tells you which nights it's visible from your city.

Frequently asked questions

How often is the schedule updated?

Automatically, several times a day: launches every few minutes when one is coming up, and other events every few hours. When you open the page, it requests the latest version.

What time zone are the dates in?

Yours, based on your device's settings. If the page can't detect it, times are shown in US Eastern time (New York).

What does "time to be announced" mean?

The event has a day, but the time isn't official yet. This happens mostly with spacewalks, whose start time is confirmed only a few days ahead.

Why does an event only show a month?

Because the agency or company has only given an approximate date. Once they pin down the day, the schedule will show it.

Can you see a docking from the ground?

You can't make out the maneuver with the naked eye, but you can watch the station fly over with the newly arrived spacecraft if it lines up with a visible pass. The full maneuver is best followed on the live broadcast.