International Space Station

Football-field-sized research station in low Earth orbit, continuously crewed since 2000; one of the brightest, fastest-moving things in the night sky.

Also called: the ISS, the Space Station.

What it is

Spacecraft: Ours. The only things on this list we made. Every kind of thing there is →

How to find the International Space Station

What you will really see

Worth knowing about the International Space Station

The International Space Station is about the size of a football field once its solar panels are spread out -- the biggest thing humans have ever built in space. In weight, heavier than a fully loaded jumbo jet.

How it moves

Circles the whole Earth once every 90-ish minutes -- astronauts on board see a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes.

The machines we sent

A joint project of NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and CSA -- a laboratory in orbit for studying microgravity, astronaut health, and Earth and space science; expected to keep flying into the early 2030s.

What makes it worth knowing

Bright enough to see with just your eyes: during dawn or dusk it looks like a fast, steady 'star' crossing the whole sky in a few minutes, reflecting sunlight while the ground below is still dark. Continuously crewed since November 2000 by rotating astronauts from many countries; assembly began in 1998 with the Russian Zarya module.

Seen next to things you know

How anyone knows this

Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:

• Where a space telescope parks

What it belongs to

Then go outside

Clear tonight? The Planetarium will show you what is worth a look. Then just go out.