Spot the Space Station

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WASHINGTON Since November, NASA has a service to help people see theInternational Space Stationwhen it passes overhead. "Spot the Station" will send an email or text message to those who sign up for the service a few hours before they will be able to see the space station.

When the space station is visible typically at dawn and dusk it is the brightest object in the night sky, other than the moon. On a clear night, the station is visible as a fast moving point of light, similar in size and brightness to the planet Venus. "Spot the Station" users will have the options to receive alerts about morning, evening or both types of sightings.

The International Space Station's trajectory passes over more than 90 percent of Earth's population. The service is designed to only notify users of passes that are high enough in the sky to be easily visible over trees, buildings and other objects on the horizon. NASA's Johnson Space Center calculates the sighting information several times a week for more than 4,600 locations worldwide, all of which are available on "Spot the Station."

To sign up for "Spot the Station," visit:

http://spotthestation.nasa.gov

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Spot the Space Station

Astronaut packs crafts for space station trip

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Karen Nyberg / @AstroKarenN / NASA

NASA's Karen Nyberg sits in the Soyuz spacecraft that is scheduled to launch her and two other astronauts to the International Space Station on May 28. Image released on May 17, 2013.

By Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com

An American astronaut is about to get seriously crafty in space.

When NASA's Karen Nyberg, the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin officially launch on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on Tuesday, the American astronaut will bring a few key creative items with her.

"I actually enjoy sewing and quilting and I am bringing some fabric with me and thread and I'm hoping to create something," Nyberg said. "I don't know yet what it will be but that's part of creativity is that it comes with the feeling of the day so I have the supplies in my hands to create if I get the opportunity and the creative notion to do so." [Women in Space: A Gallery of Firsts (Photos)]

Although the six-month-stint will be Nyberg's longest in space, it is not her first time visiting the International Space Station.

"I'm looking forward to the most this time actually living there," Nyberg told SPACE.com. "I visited space station in 2008 on the space shuttle Discovery, and it was a very, very quick trip, only 14 days and honestly, I don't really remember a lot of it because it just flew on by so fast."

Nyberg, 43, is planning on sharing her experiences on board the station with the world using social media, although she has only be using Twitter (where she posts from the account @AstroKarenN) for a little over a month. She is also on Pinterest with the handle: knyberg.

Nyberg follows in a line of female astronauts who have spent time on board the International Space Station.

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Astronaut packs crafts for space station trip