Sky gazing on a clear night is an enjoyable pastime, the glowing moon and the twinkling stars hold our attention. But wait, what’s that moving up there? It looks like a bright star, but it’s definitely in motion. You may have just had your first look at the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed over West Milford.
Sighting opportunities
If you missed it or want to see it again, Mission Control at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), located at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, has made it possible with “Spot the Station.”
When you sign up for “Spot the Station” you can get a print out of upcoming dates when the ISS will be orbiting over West Milford. You can also request email or text message alerts a few hours in advance of the pass over. “Spot the Station” is now available in every county seat in the United States.
The alert provides the time, coordinates, the direction of the appearance and disappearance and the amount of minutes of visibility.
What is the International Space Station?
The ISS is a man-made satellite that orbits the earth. It has been under construction since 1998. The first component of the ISS, a module called “Zayra” was launched into space by Russia. Several weeks later NASA launched and successfully attached the “Unity” module, providing all the requirements needed for long-term human habitation. Since the year 2000 ISS has hosted an international crew on a rotating basis.
The ISS is now a world-class orbiting research laboratory, a space port for international spacecraft, an observatory and a human experiment in a micro-city in space.
Experiments are conducted in varied scientific fields including human biology, medicine, physics, astronomy, biology, astronomy, space research and meteorology. The station provides the opportunity to test spacecraft and equipment and in the future it may act as a staging platform for missions to the moon or Mars.
The ISS is a joint project involving five space agencies: NASA, United States; Roskosmos, Russia; JAXA, Japan; CSA, Canada and agencies from around the world under the umbrella of the European Space Agency.
It’s only money
ISS is undoubtedly the most expensive single item ever constructed; as of 2010 the estimated cost was at one-hundred and fifty billion dollars.
If you’d like to see what that kind of money can buy, sign up, set your clock as a reminder and go find a good spot for sky gazing. It’s worth the time and trouble when you see it go zipping by at 17,000 miles per hour.
Faster than a speeding bullet.
Sources: http://www.nasa.gov; http://iss.astroviewr.net; http://spotthestation.nasa.gov; http://science.nationalgeographic.com; http://www.pbs.org/spacestation/station/issfactsheet.htm; http://www.sciencekids.co