Space station due to pass over isles tonight
NASA VIA AP
In this Nov. 18, 2017 photo provided by NASA, from left, American Mark Vande Hei, Russian Sergei Ryazanskiy, Italian Paolo Nespoli, American Joe Acaba and American Randy Bresnik display the results of their made-from-scratch pizza pies at the International Space Station.
The International Space Station will put in an extremely bright appearance tonight if the weather cooperates.
The space station will rise in the northwest at 6:24 p.m. and head for the top of the sky, passing to the right of the bright stars Vega and Deneb. With Altair, those stars form what is called the Summer Triangle, visible even in late fall.
At its highest point, just after 6:27 p.m., the space station will pass near the square of Pegasus.
It will then descend toward the southeastern horizon, blinking out about 6:31 p.m.
The space station is visible just before dawn and just after dusk when it is illuminated by the sun against the darker sky. High passes like Monday’s are typically bright.
Currently 254 miles up, the space station orbits at a speed of 17,130 mph, taking it around the planet roughly every 90 minutes.
Aboard now are Americans Randy Bresnik, Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei, two Russians and an Italian.
