🛰 Find the Space Station from Lethbridge
Where it is right now, when it next flies over us, and how to spot it from your own yard. No telescope needed.
🛰 Where’s the Space Station right now?
The International Space Station circles the Earth about every 90 minutes, roughly 400 km up. On the right evenings or mornings you can see it from your own yard: a bright, steady light gliding across the sky, no blinking, no sound.
Next times you can see it from Lethbridge
Working out the next passes…
NASA Spot the Station (free alerts)
How to watch: go outside a few minutes early and face the direction it rises. It looks like a very bright star moving steadily, and it often fades out partway across as it slips into the Earth’s shadow. Height is in degrees above the horizon: your fist held at arm’s length is about 10 degrees, and 90 is straight overhead. Times are worked out from the station’s latest published orbit and are usually right to within a minute, but the station sometimes fires its engines, so check again on the day. “Use my location” stays in your browser and is never sent to us.
Orbit data: CelesTrak. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
How to see it
- Pick a time from the list above. Good sightings come in runs of a week or two, in the hour or two after sunset or before sunrise. Then there’s a break of a few weeks while it passes over in daylight.
- Go out a few minutes early and face the direction it rises. A spot away from streetlights helps, but it’s bright enough to see from most of the city.
- Look for a bright, steady light moving smoothly across the sky. No blinking lights (that’s a plane) and no sound.
- Watch it fade. Often it disappears partway across the sky. That’s the moment it slips into the Earth’s shadow.
Quick facts
Hear the Space Station on the radio
The Space Station carries ham radio gear, and astronauts sometimes talk with school classes and radio amateurs as they pass overhead. With a licence you can even use its radio repeater. Our sister site has the frequencies, a tracker for other amateur radio satellites, and how to get started: Ham radio satellites at VE6DOK.
More to see in our sky
The Space Station is just one of the things worth stepping outside for. See the Sky Calendar, Moon and Meteor Showers and Northern Lights, or go back to Sky. Looking for something to do with the kids? Spotting the Space Station together is a great night out, and it fits right in with the Night Sky Spotter badge. There’s more on our Kids page.
How this works: the station’s latest orbit is published by the U.S. Space Force and shared by CelesTrak. Your browser uses it to work out where the station is and when it passes over Lethbridge, or over your own spot if you tap “Use my location”. Your location stays on your device.