Spot the Station

NASA 

About this app

For anyone who has ever gazed up at the night sky and wondered about the mysteries of the universe, witnessing the ISS pass overhead can be an awe-inspiring moment. The Spot the Station mobile app is designed to notify users when the International Space Station (ISS) is visible overhead from their location. It aims to broaden access and awareness of the ISS and NASA globally, by providing users with an opportunity to experience the wonder of the ISS firsthand. The realization that there are human beings living and working in that tiny dot, orbiting the Earth at a mind-boggling speed of 17,500 miles per hour, is breathtaking. The app includes several helpful features including: 1. 2D & 3D real-time location views of the ISS 2. Upcoming Sighting Lists with visibility data 3. Augmented Reality (AR) view with compass and trajectory lines embedded into the camera view 4. Up-to-date NASA ISS Resources & Blog 5. Privacy Settings 6. Push Notifications when the ISS is approaching your location

Ratings and reviews

Easy to use just follow the prompt to turn on your camera to zero in. the space station is incredibly bright for 250 miles away. Not difficult to spot at all. Watched it for a little bit until it disappeared behind some clouds. It went overhead at 5:19 am. The alert gives you 15 minutes to get organized. Awesome

it used to be great and could track the station on my phone (galaxy s22) but now when I click a notification I get a safety reminder that I can't get out of unless I swipe to close the program. If it worked, it'd be 5 stars but they broke it for me. Edit: I hooked up a bluetooth keyboard to my phone and tabbed twice then hit enter and it seemed to bypass the safety message and allowed me to continue to use the app as I used to. I added a star.

Notifications don't work correctly! I have tried to use the filters, because there's no reason to get notified for flyovers of 15 degrees or less, but when I use the filters, I may get a notification once out of 10 flyovers. Notifications are totally haphazard. I would also like to see a setting for how far in advance of the flyover to be notified. Other than the notification problem, the app is barely just OK. I want the PC page back!

What’s new

* Fixed rendering of trajectory lines in 3D maps and AR View
* Updated the algorithm for calculating the upcoming sighting opportunities. Users can filter the upcoming sightings according to the Max Height dropdown menu (default > 5) on the Upcoming Sightings page
* Modified default entry to the AR View page to not be in full-screen mode
* Updated FAQ and and added search to FAQ
* Updated Home age Tutorial