ISS passes over cities in Russia and Armenia
When the International Space Station will fly over your city and whether you will be able to see it with the naked eye. The 10-day schedule is calculated right in your browser from the station’s latest orbit — for your location or for a city from the list.
We’ll show the passes over the place where you are now.
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Passes over you
10-day schedule
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For a visible pass, the time and path run from the moment the station appears until it disappears or fades into Earth’s shadow; “up to 40°” is the greatest altitude above the horizon. Click a pass to open the sky map at that moment.
Choose your city
The bar shows how high above the horizon the ISS can rise over the city. The farther north the city, the lower the station goes: its orbit doesn’t go beyond latitude 51.6°.
- Moscowup to 40°
- Zvenigorodup to 40°
- Saint Petersburgup to 20°
- Kazanup to 39°
- Nizhny Novgorodup to 36°
- Voronezhup to 89°
- Belgorodup to the zenith
- Volgogradup to the zenith
- Rostov-on-Donup to the zenith
- Krasnodarup to the zenith
- Sochiup to the zenith
- Murmanskup to 3°
- Kaliningradup to 48°
- Samaraup to 66°
- Ufaup to 48°
- Permup to 27°
- Yekaterinburgup to 33°
- Chelyabinskup to 44°
- Omskup to 46°
- Novosibirskup to 46°
- Kemerovoup to 43°
- Krasnoyarskup to 38°
- Irkutskup to 80°
- Yakutskup to 14°
- Vladivostokup to the zenith
- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyup to 68°
- Yerevanup to the zenith
- Gyumriup to the zenith
- Vanadzorup to the zenith
How to see the ISS
Where to look
The ISS always flies from the western side of the sky to the eastern side. South of latitude 51.6° it can pass directly overhead; farther north it moves across the southern half of the sky, and the farther north the city, the lower it goes. The schedule tells you exactly where it will appear and disappear.
When to look
The station can only be seen at twilight and at night: it is already dark where you are, but the station, about 400 kilometers up, is still lit by the Sun. Usually this is the first few hours after sunset and the last few before dawn. In the daytime you can’t make it out, and in the middle of the night it is most often in Earth’s shadow. In June and July the Sun doesn’t sink far below the horizon, and the station stays lit almost all night — that is when there are the most visible passes, several a night.
What it looks like
The ISS is a steady, bright white dot, without the blinking lights of a plane, and brighter than any star. It crosses the sky smoothly in a few minutes. Sometimes the station fades out in the middle of the sky: that is when it enters Earth’s shadow.
Questions
When will the ISS fly over my city?
See the schedule on this page: it is calculated right in your browser from the station’s latest orbit, so it always covers the next 10 days. “Visible” means that it will be dark where you are while the station is lit by the Sun, so you can see it with the naked eye. Times are local to the selected location.
Where in the sky should I look for the ISS?
The ISS always flies from the western side of the sky to the eastern side. South of latitude 51.6° it can pass directly overhead; farther north it moves across the southern half of the sky, and the farther north the city, the lower it goes. The schedule tells you exactly where it will appear and disappear.
Why can’t the ISS be seen every evening?
The station circles the Earth in about an hour and a half, and with each orbit its track shifts to the west. It passes over a city in series lasting several days, and between the series the passes fall in the daytime or at times when the station is in Earth’s shadow.
How can I tell the ISS from a plane or a satellite?
The ISS is a steady, bright white dot, without the blinking lights of a plane, and brighter than any star. It crosses the sky smoothly in a few minutes. Sometimes the station fades out in the middle of the sky: that is when it enters Earth’s shadow.
How high does the ISS fly?
About 400 kilometers above the Earth. Because of the remnants of the atmosphere, the station slowly loses height, and from time to time it is boosted back up with its engines.
Do I need a telescope to see the ISS?
No, the station can be seen with the naked eye. It is hard to catch in a telescope: it moves across the sky too fast.