Stunning animation reveals the incredible speed of the International Space Station
- The International Space Station is the biggest space station ever created
- It orbits the Earth just over 15 times a day
- This incredible animation shows how that would look at a lower altitude
Published on Dec 16, 2024 at 6:54 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Dec 16, 2024 at 8:26 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This cool animation shows how fast the International Space Station moves as it orbits the planet Earth – just in case you’ve ever wondered.
ISS was launched all the way back in November 1998 and is the largest space station ever built.
It has a total length of a whopping 109 meters (358ft) and is 73 meters (239ft) wide.
So it’s pretty darn big, in other words.
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The International Space Station travels at incredible speeds
The ISS has been operational for more than a quarter of a century, but NASA is now working on plans to ‘de-orbit’ the space station in 2031, with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin tasked with creating a replacement.
It’s hard to understate the valuable and groundbreaking work the ISS has achieved during its time in space.
Another thing that’s difficult to get your head around from back here on Earth is just how quickly the space station is moving.
The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometers (250 miles).
It is capable of doing one complete orbit – or circle – of the world in just 93 minutes, meaning it completes 15.5 orbits every single day.
Fairly mind-blowing stuff, right?
The animation shows how it would look at a lower altitude
But if you’re struggling to understand just how fast that is, an animation shared on the Airplane Mode YouTube channels reveals what the ISS would look like if orbited at a much lower altitude.
The clip shows what a 27,600km/h (17,150 miles) flyby from the ISS would look like if it orbited at 3,048 meters (10,000ft) and it’s as fast as you’re probably thinking.
The clever animation has attracted plenty of attention online, with many people left shocked by just how fast the ISS can shift.
“I have seen the ISS on video before, but never knew it was this fast,” one person wrote.
Another compared the clip to tracking the real deal at night, saying it was ‘really amazing’ how quickly the ISS goes from horizon to horizon.
“Goes to show exactly how big the earth truly is when it still takes an hour and a half to complete one orbit,” a third commented.
It sure does.
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
