Latest News About Where Does The International Space Station Orbit

Updated 2026-05-14 03:03

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth in a low Earth orbit at roughly 400 km (250 miles) altitude, completing about 16 orbits per day and one orbit every ~90 minutes. Its exact ground track and position change continuously due to orbital dynamics and perturbations, and NASA provides ephemeris data so ground observers can know where to look at any given time. For the latest, check NASA’s ISS ephemeris and “Spot the Station” resources, as well as Space Station live-tracking pages from major outlets.[3][6][7]

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Space station trajectory data now available

Space Station trajectory data is now available to the public! This data, called an ephemeris, is generated by the ISS Trajectory Operations and Planning Officer (TOPO) flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. TOPO keeps track of where the ISS is, where it is going to be, and most importantly makes sure it isn't at risk of colliding with other objects in space.

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