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what's up for april

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the international space station

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hello and welcome i'm jane houston jones

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at nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in

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have you ever seen the space station

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pass overhead it's easy if you know when

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and where to look

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the space station orbits earth about 15

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times per day

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with your unaided eyes it looks like a

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bright star moving across the sky but it

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doesn't blink like an airplane

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to find out when a pass will be visible

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check on the web for sighting

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nasa's human space flight website has a

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great tool to help you find local siding

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dates and times

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start by selecting your country

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state and city from the drop down menus

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a list of next sightings appears as soon

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as you click on your city

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the satellite or spacecraft name

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local date and time fields are

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self-explanatory

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duration is the length of time the

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satellite will be visible in your sky on

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a clear night

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the maximum elevation is how high above

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the horizon the spacecraft will get 90

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degrees is directly overhead

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you might familiarize yourself with a

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few bright stars or planets in the sky

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this month and eyeball their position

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the approach and departure degree and

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direction tell you which direction the

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spacecraft will first appear from and

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then the direction it will disappear

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the best time for space station gazing

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is just before dawn or just after sunset

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when the observer is in the dark but the

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space station is in the sun when the

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spacecraft is no longer lit by sunlight

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it disappears into earth's shadow and

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space shuttle missions carry needed

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supplies and equipment to the space

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station and it's fun to see both objects

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when they're both in orbit

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you don't need a telescope or binoculars

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to see them they move too fast for most

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on the day or two immediately before

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docking and after undocking the shuttle

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and station will appear to be chasing

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after moonset between 1 and 2 am on the

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morning of april 22nd you'll get to

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enjoy the lyric meteor shower you can

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expect to see about 20 swift and bright

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meteors per hour from a dark sky

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location that's a great reason to wake

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you can learn more about human space at

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spaceflight.nasa.gov

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and you can learn more about nasa

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missions and when the next space shuttle