Is Spot the Station Down? Here's a Free Alternative That Still Works
If you've searched for "spot the station" recently and landed on a dead page or a redirect to an app store, you're not imagining it. NASA retired the classic Spot the Station website in 2025, moving ISS sighting alerts to a phone-only app instead of a website anyone could check from a browser.
That's a real problem if you're on a school computer, a library terminal, a work desktop, or just don't want to install another app for something you'll check a few times a month. This page explains what changed and points you to a free, browser-based alternative that still does the job — no install, no account.
What happened to Spot the Station
NASA's original Spot the Station site let anyone enter a location and get a list of upcoming visible ISS passes. As part of a broader shift toward app-based tools, that website was retired, and sighting information moved to NASA's official mobile app. If you don't want an app, or you're on a device where you can't install one, there's currently no direct desktop replacement from NASA itself.
A browser-based alternative
ISS Live Tracker runs entirely in your browser, on desktop or mobile, with no install and no account. It computes the station's real-time position using SGP4 orbital propagation over official NORAD/CelesTrak two-line element (TLE) data — the same underlying method used by professional satellite-tracking software — refreshed every few minutes.
- Visible-pass predictions for any location, including how high the station will rise, how long the pass lasts, and which direction to look.
- A cloud-cover forecast for each pass, so you know before you go outside whether the sky is likely to actually be clear — something the old sighting tools didn't offer.
- An in-browser AR sky finder: point your phone's camera at the sky and a compass-guided overlay shows exactly where to look, with no app-store install required.
- Multi-satellite tracking — switch to Tiangong, the Hubble Space Telescope, NOAA 19, or search for any other cataloged satellite by name or NORAD ID.
See the next time the ISS is visible from where you are — right now, in your browser.
Get pass predictionsHow the predictions work
A pass is only visible when two things line up: the station has to be sunlit, and your sky has to already be dark. The tracker checks both conditions using the same orbital math and refreshed TLE data described above, so the pass times you see reflect the station's actual current orbit, not a static schedule.
Related
- How to read an ISS pass prediction — what elevation, duration, and direction actually mean.
- What is a TLE? — the orbital data format behind every prediction on this page.
- How ISS tracking works — TLEs, SGP4, and pass prediction.
- How to see the ISS — a first-timer’s spotting guide.
- Is the ISS visible tonight? — a live pass finder.
