When is the ISS visible from Richmond tonight?
Live pass times are temporarily unavailable: we couldn’t reach the orbital-elements feed on the last rebuild. This page recomputes daily (and on every deploy), so times are usually back within hours.
ISS passes over Richmond, VA: next five days
Pass times will reappear here on the next daily rebuild. In the meantime, check tonight’s rocket launches.
Why it disappears mid-sky
The ISS has no lights of its own: what you see is reflected sunlight. You can only spot it while your sky is dark but the satellite, 250+ miles up, is still catching the sun. The moment its orbit carries it into Earth’s shadow, it fades out within seconds, often high overhead, nowhere near the horizon. Most trackers leave you staring at an empty sky; the tables here print that exact fade-out moment, computed from the same twilight math we use for rocket-launch visibility.
What you’re looking for: a very bright, steady, fast-moving point of light: brighter than any star, no blinking (that’s a plane), crossing the sky west-to-east in three to six minutes. No telescope needed; it’s one of the easiest things in the night sky to see from Richmond, even downtown.
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ISS over Richmond FAQ
What time is the ISS visible from Richmond tonight?
Right now there are no visible ISS passes from Richmond, VA in the next five days: every pass happens in daylight or while the station is inside Earth's shadow. Visible passes return in cycles of a few weeks, and this page recomputes daily.
Why does the ISS suddenly disappear mid-sky?
The station has no lights of its own: you're seeing reflected sunlight. When its orbit carries it into Earth's shadow it fades out within seconds, often while still high overhead. The pass table on this page lists that exact fade-out moment for every pass over Richmond; most trackers don't.
How accurate are these ISS pass times?
They're recomputed every day from the latest published orbital elements. With fresh elements, pass times are accurate to within a few seconds; if the elements go several days stale they can drift by tens of seconds. Directions and peak heights barely change either way.