ATLANTA — The International Space Station will fly over Atlanta Thursday night.
Compared to other flyovers, tonight's should be an "outstanding pass," because it lasts a little longer than most flyovers and it will fly almost directly overhead.
At 7:58 p.m., look toward the northwest sky just about 10 degrees above the horizon. You will begin to see a bright white light moving quickly across the sky.
At its highest point, it will be about 83 degrees overhead. That is almost directly overhead - 90 degrees is straight up.
The Space Station will then continue across the sky and gradually disappear about 10 degrees above the horizon in the southeast sky. The entire pass will last about seven minutes.
Most other passes are shorter than this one and sometimes are lower on the horizon, meaning they could be blocked by trees or tall buildings. Tonight's pass is not only almost directly overhead, but it's a longer pass, too.
We should also have mostly clear skies and comfortable evening temperatures to be outside with your friends and family to watch the Space Station flyover.
It appears as a bright white light because it's actually the reflection of the sunlight on its large solar panels and does not have any flashing lights on it. The Space Station moves faster across the sky than typical airplane, flying at about 17,500 mph. It is almost 300 miles up in space.
On Wednesday, NASA launched SpaceX Crew-5 mission to take astronauts to the Space Station. They will dock to the station module around 4:57pm Thursday. Crew-5 will spend several months on the Space Station conducting research that could benefit life on Earth.
Chief Meteorologist Chris Holcomb tracked the Space Station as it flew over Thursday night. You can watch it below.