Mission Control • Live Telemetry • The Final Frontier
Next 5 missions • Real-time countdown
International Space Station • NORAD 25544 • ~408 km altitude
Watch the orbital traffic in real time
Live 3D map of the entire Starlink constellation orbiting Earth.
LAUNCH →Predict visible satellite passes, ISS sightings and night-sky events.
LAUNCH →Authoritative orbital element sets (TLEs) for thousands of tracked objects.
LAUNCH →Track the James Webb Space Telescope at Lagrange point L2.
LAUNCH →The human reality of life beyond Earth
Claude-generated headlines • Auto-refresh every 10 minutes
Agencies, missions and live feeds
Falcon, Starship, Dragon and the road to Mars.
VISIT →Round-the-clock launches, spacewalks and mission coverage.
WATCH →The European Space Agency — science, Earth observation, exploration.
VISIT →India's space program — Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan and beyond.
VISIT →Exploring Jezero Crater and caching samples on Mars since 2021.
EXPLORE →Real-time 3D tours of the solar system and active spacecraft.
EXPLORE →From Sputnik to Apollo • Humanity's greatest achievement
The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite, shocking the world. Sputnik orbits Earth every 96 minutes, beeping a radio signal heard by millions. The space race has started.
Astronaut John Glenn circles Earth three times aboard Friendship 7. America proves it can match the Soviets orbit for orbit. Project Mercury lays the groundwork for everything that follows.
Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the Moon at 02:56 UTC. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Buzz Aldrin follows 19 minutes later. 600 million people watch live on TV.
An oxygen tank explosion 56 hours into the mission cripples the spacecraft. "Houston, we have a problem." Against all odds, the crew and Mission Control improvise a solution. All three astronauts return safely.
Gene Cernan becomes the last human to stand on the Moon, departing with the words "We shall return." Six missions, 12 moonwalkers, 842 pounds of lunar samples. Humanity has not returned since.
NASA's Artemis programme aims to land the first woman and next man on the Moon. The SLS rocket and Orion capsule are ready. Astronauts will establish a sustained presence near the lunar south pole by 2030.
History's most complex flying machine • 135 missions • 1981–2011
The Space Shuttle was the world's first reusable spacecraft — a winged orbiter strapped to an external tank and two solid rocket boosters. At launch it produced 37 million newtons of thrust. It could carry 24,400 kg to orbit and return with a full payload bay.
The Shuttle delivered, serviced and repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, assembled the International Space Station piece by piece over 27 flights, launched the Galileo and Magellan planetary probes, and carried more than 355 astronauts from 16 countries into orbit.
Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on 28 January 1986, killing all seven crew. Columbia disintegrated on re-entry on 1 February 2003, killing seven more. Both disasters reshaped how NASA approaches human spaceflight safety forever.
Since the Shuttle retired in 2011, crews reach the ISS aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner. SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters land and refly routinely. Starship — the largest rocket ever built — aims to carry 100 people to orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
Rockets • Satellites • ISS • Starlink • Find them with your eyes
The ISS is the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus — visible as a fast, steady white dot moving horizon to horizon in ~6 minutes. Use NASA Spot The Station or the ISS Detector app. It rises in the west and sets in the east. No telescope needed.
Bookmark RocketLaunch.live and NASASpaceFlight for live countdowns. Many Florida launches are visible from the beach up to 100 miles away — a brilliant fireball climbing on a pillar of flame. SpaceX Falcon 9 booster landings are visible for miles around the launch site.
Newly launched Starlink batches appear as a "string of pearls" — a line of 20–60 bright dots gliding in formation. Use FindStarlink.com for precise pass times at your location. They're most visible in the first week after launch before raising to their final orbit and dimming.
Every object in Earth orbit has a NORAD catalog number. Enter any number into N2YO.com or CelesTrak for real-time position, pass predictions and ground track. Heavens-Above provides magnitude predictions so you know if it will be visible to the naked eye.
ISS Detector (Android/iOS) — push notifications before every visible ISS pass. Heavens-Above — full sky chart with satellite passes. SkySafari — point your phone at any light and identify it. Satellite Tracker by Star Walk — 3D AR view of every satellite above you right now.
SatelliteMap.space shows every active Starlink in real-time 3D. NASA Eyes on the Solar System tracks every spacecraft NASA has ever launched. Stuff in Space renders all 27,000+ tracked objects in Earth orbit simultaneously.
Humanity's next homes • AI-updated analysis
Constantly refreshed by Claude • Launches • Satellites • Discoveries • Moon • Mars
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