The good news: The International Space Station is making some very bright passes overhead almost everyday starting on May 4th (dim passes at other times and in between the bright ones).

The bad news: They're all between 2:30 and 5:30 am, when most people will not see them (if I get a good picture or two I'll post it here). The next bright pass is on Sunday, May 4th, starting at 5:10 am in the southwest, heading up and over to the northeast.

Fortunately, for those of us that prefer an evening/nighttime spaceship viewing schedule, there are many other visible satellites at that time. None nearly as spectacular as the growing space station, but still interesting just the same. And even though the Iridium satellites are much smaller, the Iridium flares are actually much brighter than the ISS.

Tonight (May 1st):
MetOp-A - 9:50 pm - SSE
Envisat - 9:57 pm - SE
Lacrosse 2 - 11:41 pm - NW

Tomorrow night (May 2nd):
SeaSat 1 - 9:27 pm - SSE
MetOp-A - 9:29 pm - SE
Cosmos 1980 Rocket - 11:04 pm - ESE

Iridium Flares:
Most of the Iridium flares are between 11:00 and 11:30 pm, or 3:00 to 3:30 am. But, Saturday night (May 3) there will be one at 8:05 pm starting in the ESE. It will still be pretty much daylight then, but this flare will be very bright and should be easily visible.