On your next camping trip to a national park, take a look skyward and connect with the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Park Service have partnered to share information with park visitors about where and when to look up to catch the ISS.
The size of a football field, the ISS is an inspiring sight in its own right flying through the sky at five miles per second.
Obviously, ISS sightings depend on many variables – weather conditions and the actual whereabouts of the orbiting complex as it circles the Earth. But the new partnership better enables wilderness visitors to see the station zoom across the sky.
With the help of the Park Service, NASA recently imported the coordinates of 507 locations, including national parks and seashores, historic sites, monuments, and wild and scenic rivers.
Sighting predictions are available on NASA’s SkyWatch website, via the agency’s new mobile website, and NASA iPhone and iPad applications. Park rangers who present night sky programs and park event calendars also will have the information available for park visitors.
Want more information?
For detailed data on sighting the ISS and a guide to using the information, visit:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings
For more information about national parks and the night sky, visit:
http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/lightscapes
By LD/CSE