How to track the ISS in your browser
The International Space Station laps the Earth every 93 minutes. Here is how to watch it move in real time, no install required.
The International Space Station (catalog number 25544) is the easiest satellite to track: it is large, low, fast, and bright enough to see with the naked eye. Tracking it live means propagating its current TLE to show where it is this second.
Watch it live
Open the ISS in the Vantafort platform and it loads already selected. The camera follows the station while its ground track draws the path it sweeps across the surface and its footprint shows the area that currently has it in view.
What you are looking at
- Altitude: about 420 km, in low Earth orbit.
- Speed: roughly 7.66 km/s, around 28,000 km/h.
- Inclination: 51.6 degrees, which is why its ground track reaches as far as 51.6 degrees north and south.
Seeing it with your own eyes
Because it is sunlit while your sky is dark, the ISS is visible as a bright, fast-moving point at dawn and dusk. Use the ground track to find the passes that come near your location.
Once you have the ISS, the same approach works for anything else, see how to track satellites or jump to tracking Starlink.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the ISS right now?
- The ISS orbits at about 420 km, circling Earth roughly every 93 minutes at 51.6 degrees inclination. A live tracker propagates its current TLE to show its position in real time.
- How fast does the ISS move?
- About 7.66 km/s, roughly 28,000 km/h, completing around 15.5 orbits per day.
- Can I see the ISS from my location?
- Yes. It is visible to the naked eye at dawn and dusk, when it is sunlit against a dark sky. Its ground track shows when it passes near you.