Space

Two video feeds: The International Space Station in real time

By now, we all know what the Earth looks like from space. But to see our home planet from above – in real time – is truly something special. Is that what you’ll see in the live video feed below? Sometimes. The live video feed below is from the International Space Station (ISS), and it also includes internal views when the crew is on-duty, a map showing the path of ISS in orbit, ISS turning its camera on itself, and other features. The video is accompanied by audio of conversations between the crew and Mission Control. One other caveat. This video feed is available only when ISS is in contact with the ground. During “loss of signal” periods, viewers will see a blue screen. (Sometimes it takes a while to load.)

Stream videos at Ustream

There’s a second cool video feed I found related to ISS. You can track the position of ISS over the Earth at this European Space Agency site.

I like to open two windows on my computer, and watch the ESA tracking page and the live feed from ISS side by side.

Because the station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it experiences a sunrise or a sunset about every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, the external camera video may appear black, but sometimes it provides spectacular views of lightning or city lights below.

If you happen to visit this page while the feed is down, here’s one more video, below. This one isn’t live, but it can give you an idea of how it feels to fly above the Earth on board the ISS.

The cities and places shown in this video, in order of their appearance, are: Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, some Texas cities, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, electrical storms above the ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca and the Amazon.

Bottom line: Enjoy spectacular views of Earth – in real time – from a camera on board the International Space Station.

Posted 
June 13, 2013
 in 
Space

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Emily Howard

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