ISS passes tonight over South Padre Island

No visible passes tonight. The station is not crossing a dark South Padre Island sky between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM — see why below, and check back in a day or two.

Tonight's window

6:00 PM – 6:00 AM

Tue, Sep 1 · CDT

Visible passes

dark sky + sunlit satellite

Observer

26.11°N

97.17°W — South Padre Island center

Elements

Tue, Sep 1

CelesTrak epoch, 11:57 AM UTC

International Space Station

NORAD 25544 · epoch 2026-09-01

No visible ISS pass over South Padre Island tonight — 1 pass in daylight or shadow.

1 pass you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)

12:08 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
12:08 AM
Highest
11° at 12:12 AM
Visible for
9 min · sets 12:17 AM

Tiangong (China Space Station)

NORAD 48274 · epoch 2026-09-01

No visible Tiangong pass over South Padre Island tonight — 2 passes in daylight or shadow.

2 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)

12:53 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
12:53 AM
Highest
12° at 12:57 AM
Visible for
9 min · sets 1:02 AM
2:30 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
2:30 AM
Highest
71° at 2:35 AM
Visible for
10 min · sets 2:40 AM

Hubble Space Telescope

NORAD 20580 · epoch 2026-09-01

No visible Hubble pass over South Padre Island tonight — 4 passes in daylight or shadow.

4 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)

11:34 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
11:34 PM
Highest
30° at 11:39 PM
Visible for
11 min · sets 11:45 PM
1:13 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
1:13 AM
Highest
84° at 1:19 AM
Visible for
12 min · sets 1:25 AM
2:53 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
2:53 AM
Highest
59° at 2:59 AM
Visible for
12 min · sets 3:05 AM
4:33 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
Rises
4:33 AM
Highest
86° at 4:39 AM
Visible for
12 min · sets 4:45 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 South Padre Island; shadow check at each pass's peak. All times CDT. Computed 10:52 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 Starbase are visible from South Padre Island. 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 South Padre Island some nights?

The ISS orbits at 51.6° inclination and its ground track drifts west about 22° each orbit, so it overflies South Padre Island 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 — South Padre Island is at 26.1°N.