It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... the Space Station | Lifestyle.INQ

OCTOBER 27, 2022

In an image made from NASA TV, space station commander Sunita Williams, center, works on a leaky radiator system outside the International Space Station on Thursday, November 1, 2012, just hours after barely dodging a menacing piece of orbiting junk. Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide wasted no time installing jumper cables outside their home for the past four months. Their objective was to isolate a suspect radiator to help determine whether that is the source of the ammonia coolant leak, and deploy a spare radiator to bypass the troublesome section. (AP Photo/NASA)
In an image made from NASA TV, space station commander Sunita Williams, center, works on a leaky radiator system outside the International Space Station on Thursday, November 1, 2012, just hours after barely dodging a menacing piece of orbiting junk. Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide wasted no time installing jumper cables outside their home for the past four months. Their objective was to isolate a suspect radiator to help determine whether that is the source of the ammonia coolant leak, and deploy a spare radiator to bypass the troublesome section. (AP Photo/NASA)

WASHINGTON—Galactic tourism may still be a daydream for most of us, but for anyone interested in a glimpse of the International Space Station sooner, NASA is ready to help.

 

The US space agency, celebrating the 12th anniversary of astronauts living and working on the orbiting lab, launched a new service Friday that alerts people when the space station is visible from their backyard.

 

Those who sign up will get an email or a text message with a few hours warning.

 

Then, when the moment is right, NASA said, you just go outside and look up — no fancy equipment required.

 

“It’s really remarkable to see the space station fly overhead and to realize humans built an orbital complex that can be spotted from Earth by almost anyone looking up at just the right moment,” William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in a statement.

 

The space station is typically visible right at dawn or dusk, when the moon is the only brighter object visible in the night sky, NASA said.

 

It looks like a fast moving point of light, similar to Venus.

 

“Spot the Station” service is available worldwide, the agency said, adding the station’s trajectory carries it over more than 90 percent of the Earth’s population.

 

To sign up, visit spotthestation.nasa.gov.

 

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