I received an email yesterday about the International Space Station:

Starting at 8:48 PM, if clouds and smoke permit, you’ll see the International Space Station over San Diego moving from SW to NE until 8:54 P.M.

I set my alarm for 8:45 to give me (hopefully) enough time to try and figure out where southwest and northeast IS, as I’m directionally challenged.

It was clear at 8:45 with a few planes and some stars just starting to sparkle in the not-quite-completely-dark sky.

I looked up, scanning all around because I still couldn’t figure out where SW was, even though I know the ocean is WEST.

Ahh, there it was, right on time, the brightest white light, swiftly moving across the sky, high above the other aircraft. I followed the trajectory of the International Space Station until it was too far away to see.

And that’s the kind of thing that make me very happy.

I learned a bit about the ISS from Wiki:

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies:  USA, Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada. The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted. (Photo courtesy of Wiki)