This morning I was organizing bookmarks in Internet Explorer, something I rarely do, in a browser I never use but for work these days, and I came across a link to ISS sighting opportunities. I had forgotten all about it. As chance would have it, the Space Station was flying over my area in New Jersey just after sunset today!

Also as chance would have it, the sky was clear at that time of the day. I was able to go outside to view the flyover. I made a video.

It amazes me that there are people living up there 240 miles away from the Earth.

It amazes me that it is moving so fast:

The ISS circles the Earth every 90 minutes. It travels at about 17,500 miles (28,000 km) per hour, which gives the crew 16 sunrises and sunsets every day. In the more than 15 years that people have been living onboard, the Station has circumnavigated the Earth tens of thousands of times.

From https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/faq.cfm

Moving that quickly, they probably didn’t see me waving.

The speed is even more astounding when you realize that the Station is the size of a US football field.

Photo from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/overview/index.html

I’ll have to keep an eye out for another good sighting. There’s just something fascinating about it.