Guides
Understand the station
Everything you need to find the International Space Station in your own sky and make sense of what you are looking at — written in plain language, no jargon.
How to see the ISS with the naked eye
No telescope, no app required. Here is exactly what to look for, when to look, and how to tell the Space Station apart from a passing plane.
What is the International Space Station?
A football-pitch-sized laboratory orbiting four hundred kilometres up, crewed without a break since the year 2000. Here is what it is, who built it, and what happens aboard.
Understanding visible passes — why the timing keeps changing
Why the Station appears at a different time every night, what elevation and magnitude mean, and how to read a pass prediction so you never miss a good one.
How we track the ISS in real time
Where the Station's position comes from, what a two-line element set is, and how a fifty-year-old maths model lets a website show you the ISS to within a few kilometres.
ISS deorbit — what happens after 2030
The Station cannot stay up for ever. Here is why it will come down, when that is planned, and what the plan is for the day it finally falls.
A day aboard the ISS
Crew days are tightly scheduled from wake-up to lights out. Here is how astronauts split their time between science, exercise, maintenance, meals, and the occasional window gazing.
Spacewalks explained — what, why, and how often
What an EVA actually involves, why astronauts go outside, what they wear, how long it takes, and how many spacewalks the Station has needed so far.
ISS modules — a guided tour of the Station
The Station is not one thing but many — over a dozen pressurised modules bolted together in orbit, each with its own role. Here is a plain-language tour.
ISS vs Tiangong — how to tell them apart
Two space stations now orbit Earth at similar altitudes. Here is how they differ, and how to know which one you just saw cross your sky.
What is a TLE — orbital elements explained
Two lines of numbers tell a satellite tracker everything it needs. Here is what each part of a Two-Line Element set means, in plain language.
ISS magnitude and brightness explained
Why the Station is sometimes dazzling and sometimes barely visible, what the magnitude number means, and what controls how bright a pass will be.
Why the ISS orbits at 51.6 degrees
The Station's orbital inclination is not arbitrary. It was chosen for a specific reason — and it determines who on Earth can see it and who cannot.
What is the Starlink train and how to see it
A line of bright dots crossing the sky in single file — that is a Starlink train. Here is what it is, why it happens, and how to catch one before it disappears.