ISS passes tonight over Orlando
No visible passes tonight. The station is not crossing a dark Orlando sky between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM — see why below, and check back in a day or two.
International Space Station
NORAD 25544 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible ISS pass over Orlando tonight.
Tiangong (China Space Station)
NORAD 48274 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Tiangong pass over Orlando tonight — 3 passes in daylight or shadow.
3 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 12:19 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:19 AM
- Highest
- 13° at 12:23 AM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 12:27 AM
- 1:56 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 1:56 AM
- Highest
- 51° at 2:01 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 2:06 AM
- 3:33 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 3:33 AM
- Highest
- 15° at 3:37 AM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 3:42 AM
Hubble Space Telescope
NORAD 20580 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Hubble pass over Orlando tonight — 4 passes in daylight or shadow.
4 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 12:37 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:37 AM
- Highest
- 44° at 12:43 AM
- Visible for
- 12 min · sets 12:49 AM
- 2:17 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 2:17 AM
- Highest
- 85° at 2:23 AM
- Visible for
- 12 min · sets 2:28 AM
- 3:57 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 3:57 AM
- Highest
- 71° at 4:03 AM
- Visible for
- 12 min · sets 4:08 AM
- 5:37 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 5:37 AM
- Highest
- 29° at 5:42 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 5:48 AM
Orbital elements: CelesTrak, epoch 2026-09-01 11:57 UTC. Elevation-only predictor (no direction of travel); passes above 10°; darkness = sun below −6° at Orlando; shadow check at each pass's peak. All times EDT. Computed 11:49 PM, refreshed every 30 minutes.
How to spot the ISS
- Be outside two minutes before the rise time with as much open sky as you can find. City lights are fine — the station outshines them.
- Look for a steady, un-blinking star moving about as fast as a high airliner. No flashing lights, no sound. If it blinks, it is a plane.
- It is brightest near the “highest” time on the card — that is when it is closest to you. Passes above 60° go almost overhead.
- If it fades out mid-sky, that is normal — it just flew into Earth's shadow. Wave anyway; the crew is up there.
Get launch alerts
Night launches from Cape Canaveral are visible from Orlando. One email a day before, an hour before, and at liftoff — no account.
Want an email before each visible pass at your exact coordinates? Pass alerts live in the alert center with a free account.
Frequently asked
How bright is the ISS?
On a high pass the International Space Station reaches magnitude −3 to −6 — brighter than any star and comparable to Venus — a steady white point that does not blink and makes no sound. Tiangong is a step dimmer (about −1 to −3) and Hubble is a faint, steady star (+1 to +2) that wants a dark sky. Our brightness hint uses peak elevation only: passes above 60° are the bright ones; below 30° the object stays low in haze.
Why do passes end abruptly?
A satellite is visible only while it is in sunlight and you are in darkness. When it flies into Earth's shadow it fades out over a few seconds — often still high in the sky. That is not cloud: it is orbital sunset. Passes an hour or two after dusk usually end this way; passes before dawn often begin this way, with the station appearing out of nothing overhead.
Why are there no passes over Orlando some nights?
The ISS orbits at 51.6° inclination and its ground track drifts west about 22° each orbit, so it overflies Orlando in runs of a week or two, then swings away for a similar stretch. Even when it does pass over, the sun angle has to line up so the station is lit while your sky is dark. Tiangong (41.5°) and Hubble (28.5°) never climb high for cities north of those latitudes — Orlando is at 28.5°N, so Hubble stays low on the southern horizon here.
Other cities
Can you see a rocket launch from Orlando? · What's overhead right now · Live satellite tracker