Here's when you could see the International Space Station in Scarborough in the next few days

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the earth roughly every 90 minutes travelling at a speed of five miles per second.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

In 24 hours the ISS orbits earth 16 times travelling through six sunrises and sunsets.

Provided the sky is clear it can be seen from earth and over the next six days there are several chances to spot the space station from Scarborough - here's when.

Friday December 6

The International Space Station.The International Space Station.
The International Space Station.

At 5.26pm the ISS will be on view for around three minutes.

At 7.02pm it will be on view for less than a minute.

Saturday December 7

At 4.38pm the ISS will be on view for around four minutes.

At 6.14pm it will be on view for two minutes.

Sunday December 8

At 5.26pm the ISS will be on view for 3 minutes.

Monday December 9

At 4.38pm the ISS will be on view for around three minutes.

At 6.14pm it will be on view for a minute.

Tuesday December 10

The ISS will be on view for two minutes at 5.26pm.

Wednesday December 11

At 4.38pm the space station will be on view for 2 minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The ISS will appear from a south westerly or west southwesterly direction - roughly where the sun sets and travel towards a south easterly direction before disappearing below the horizon.

It looks like a moving star.

The optimum viewing period is within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.

The space station is crewed by six people from different nations.

The ISS programme is a joint project between five space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The first astronaut to bear a flag of the United Kingdom patch was Helen Sharman (the first British person in space) who visited the Mir space station in 1991. Tim Peake was the second.

Time Peake was the first British ESA astronaut and was a crew member of the ISS from November 2015 to June 2016.

The first person born in the United Kingdom to go on board the ISS was NASA astronaut Michael Foale in 2003.