York County is entering a period of unique Space Station fly-overs where the sun is still shining on the station but it’s dark outside. This means the station will shine bright in the sky and look like a moving star or airplane shooting across the sky.
In the above timelapse photograph the space station is seen moving in a way similar to a very fast airplane. The station is traveling along at 17,500mph & 254 miles above our heads. Thats about the same distance as York County, PA to Connecticut.
In it’s longest fly by, the station will be overhead for about 6 minutes. Where it will achieve a Max Height of 87 degrees above the horizon. Additional information can be found on NASA’s Station spotting tool.
It’s not rare to observe the space station overhead, but It’s usually rare to have so many opportunities and with the skys showing the potential of clearing out this week. There may be some good opportunities to observe one of mankind’s greatest achievements zip by at blistering speed.
Currently aboard the International Space Station and conducting Expedition 63 are astronaut Chris Cassidy, Cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin, and Ivan Vagner. Expedition 63’s mission is to dock, capture, or release different space craft including Space X’s DM-2 Dragon capsule where they will welcome Behnken and Hurley to the expedition 63’s Crew. The first commercial delivery of crew to the Space Station.
