The International Space Station (NASA)

NASA is making it easier to spot the International Space Station (ISS) with the naked eye.

The US space agency is offering a new service which alerts people a few hours before the space station is visible flying overhead.

Enthusiasts who sign up the new service, Spot the Station, will receive notifications via email or text message. The program coincides with the Nov. 2 12-year anniversary of ISS crews living and working continuously aboard the orbiting space station.

“It’s really remarkable to see the space station fly overhead and to realize humans built an orbital complex that can be spotted from Earth by almost anyone looking up at just the right moment,” says NASA’s  William Gerstenmaier. “We’re accomplishing science on the space station that is helping to improve life on Earth and paving the way for future exploration of deep space.”

The Expedition 1 crew, the first humans aboard the International Space Station in November 2000, enjoy a snack. From left,  cosmonaut Yuri P. Gidzenko, Soyuz commander; astronaut William M. Shepherd, mission commander; and cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, flight engineer. (NASA)

The ISS, which flies about 322 km above us, is usually best glimpsed either at dawn or  dusk. Next to the moon, it is the brightest object in the night sky. On a clear night, NASA says the space station can be seen as a point of light traveling at about the speed of a fast-moving airplane.

The space station’s size and brightness are about the same as the planet Venus.

Most of the world’s population should be able to see the ISS since it passes over more than 90 percent of people living on Earth.

People who sign up for  ”Spot the Station”  will be able set their alerts for morning or evening sightings, or both. Also, the new service won’t waste your time or eat up text message units by sending  useless information. NASA says it will send  notification messages for good sightings only, which is when the ISS passes high enough in the sky to be easily seen over objects like trees and buildings.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, calculates and updates ISS sighting information twice a week for more 4,600 cities and towns throughout the world. The space agency suggests people choose the location nearest to them if they can’t find their specific position on the list.

President Ronald Reagan, during his 1984 State of the Union address, committed the United States to developing a permanently-occupied space station that would not only involve NASA. Other countries were invited to participate as well.

The first ISS module Zarya as seen from the space shuttle Endeavour in December 1998. (NASA)

After years of planning and negotiation, the ISS has become a truly international venture.  Sixteen nations participate in what NASA  calls the most technically and politically complex space exploration program  ever undertaken.

The unique partnership includes the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, as well as  nations that are a part of the European Space Agency: France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Norway.

The first portion of what would become the massive International Space Station was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakstan, on Nov. 20, 1998. Called the Zarya, or “Sunrise,” this ISS module was designed to provide the station’s initial propulsion and power. The space station has a mass of about 450,000 kg, is 72.8 m in length, by 108.5 m in width and is about 20 m in height.

The first humans, a three-person crew known as Expedition 1, boarded the space station on Nov. 2, 2000.  The ISS has been continuously staffed with international crews since, hosting 207 people who lived on the space station from a period of weeks to months.

Currently, the lone way crews can be transported to and from the ISS is aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.  The US is turning to the private sector to help with crew transport after retiring the space shuttle fleet in 2011.  NASA

NASA time-lapse animation of the assembly of the International Space Station

Sally Ride’s official astronaut portrait. She joined the astronaut corps in 1978. (Photo: NASA)

Dr. Sally Kristen Ride, the first U.S. woman in space, died at age 61 on Monday after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Ride shattered NASA’s gender barrier and earned her place in the history books on June 18, 1983 when she flew into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, serving as a Mission Specialist.

“Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism – and literally changed the face of America’s space program,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sally’s family and the many she inspired. She will be missed, but her star will always shine brightly.”

Born on May 26, 1951 in Encino, California,  Ride developed an early interest in science as well as a passion for sports, especially tennis.  She considered becoming a professional tennis player, especially after being encouraged by the famous tennis pro, Billie Jean King, who told Ride she was talented enough to pursue a professional tennis career.

But her love of science won out. After attending Swarthmore College and UCLA,  Ride went to Stanford University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature and physics.  She continued her graduate education at Stanford earning her master’s  and PhD  degrees in Physics.

Astronaut Sally Ride, a specialist on shuttle mission STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot’s chair on the shuttle Challenger flight deck in June 1983. (Photo: AP Photo/NASA, File)

In 1977, the young physicist  saw an ad in the Stanford student newspaper that said NASA was looking for astronauts.  Up until then, all NASA astronauts  had  been male military test pilots, but the ad said the space agency was  looking for scientists and engineers. Women were encouraged to apply.

Armed with her degrees in physics, Ride applied to become an astronaut. So did 8,000 other people.   In January 1978, NASA selected 35 new astronaut candidates.   Ride was  part of an historic group which included six women, three African-American men, and an Asian-American man.

Even as she  prepared for her first flight aboard the space shuttle,  Ride endured sexist comments and questions, including some from members of the press.

According to a June 1983 article in People magazine, the questioning included; “Will the flight affect your reproductive organs?” Ride answered: “There’s no evidence of that.”

“Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?” Her response: “How come nobody ever asks Rick (Frederick Hauck, the mission pilot) those questions?”

“Will you become a mother?” Smiling, Ride responded: “You notice I’m not answering.” Despite the inane and sexist questions, Astronaut Ride, according the article remained calm and unrattled.

Ride later went into space once again aboard the Challenger in October, 1984. In total, according to NASA, she spent more than 343 hours in space.

NASA Video – Sally Ride: First American Woman in Space

Ride was preparing for her third space flight when  Challenger exploded in 1986.

President Reagan named her to serve on the presidential commission  investigating the Challenger accident.

Once the  investigation was completed, NASA assigned Ride to its headquarters in Washington, DC, to lead the space agency’s first strategic planning effort.  During that time, Ride wrote a report entitled “Leadership and America’s Future in Space.” She also created NASA’s Office of Exploration.

Ride left NASA in 1987 to work at the Stanford University Center for

Former astronaut Sally Ride speaks to the media at the White House in October 2009. (AP Photo)

International Security and Arms Control.

Two years later, she became a physics professor at the University of California, San Diego and was named  director of the California Space Institute.

In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science,  a company that creates educational science programs for elementary and middle school students, with a focus on girls’ involvement with science.

In February 2003, disaster struck the US Space Shuttle program again, when Colombia disintegrated during re-entry.  As with the Challenger accident,  Ride was asked to serve on the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

Over the years,  Ride  earned numerous awards, was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and  had two elementary schools named in her honor.

Her survivors include Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney.

Ride’s legacy lives on through Sally Ride Science and its continuing work motivating and supporting the scientific ambitions of young girls and boys.