When and How to See the International Space Station Fly Overhead

The International Space Station is always orbiting the Earth at about 17,000 miles per hour, or five miles per second. But its incredible speed does not mean it's impossible to see.

The station makes a complete orbit of Earth once every 92 minutes, passing above the heads of everyone down below. Because the station is about 240 miles above the planet, it does not appear to be naked.

Those who know where to go to the top of the board The station is the third brightest object in the sky when visible because it's reflecting the sun's light back down to Earth.

Night Earth observation from the International Space Station. The station is the third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot from Earth. NASA

NASA has a website specifically designed to help those interested in the spot it, it's called "Spot the Station," and has viewing information for thousands of locations worldwide.

The station appears to look like a plane moving quickly and steadily through the sky and it appears simply a speck of light that does not blink. It moves so quickly that it's barely visible like a shooting star.

Those who wish to visit the "Spot the Station" site will be able to visit the station during the trip.

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In some areas, the station is visible for up to six minutes in others sometimes it only passes for a minute or two. Over the next few weeks in the United States, the station will be visible in the early morning hours, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.

In addition, they will see their location in the NASA site, they'll see the weather the station will be visible, the highest point it will reach in the sky, where it will likely appear first and where it will disappear. The higher the number of the elevation, the easier it would be because the 90 degrees would be directly overhead. Anything below 90 will be closer to the horizon line indicated by zero.

An example of results on "Spot the Station" NASA site that shows users when and where the International Space Station will be visible from their location. NASA

The results in the photo above are for New York City, and when will be visible in the sky from New York in the coming days. They show the date and time that the station will be visible along with where it will first appear, for how long and at what height.