ISS · Tiangong
Two crewed space stations orbit the Earth right now: the International Space Station, run by five space agencies since 1998, and Tiangong, China’s station, crewed since 2021.
Both circle the planet roughly every 92–93 minutes, a few hundred kilometres up. The map shows where each one is this second, the path it just flew and the next orbit ahead.
Orbit figures from the CelesTrak catalogue as of 2026-10-18.
| ISS | Tiangong | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and CSA | China Manned Space Agency |
| First module launched | 20 Nov 1998 (Zarya) | 29 Apr 2021 (Tianhe) |
| Usual crew | 7 | 3 (up to 6) |
| Mass | ~420 t | ~100 t |
| Altitude | 415–424 km | 384–386 km |
| Orbit time | 93.0 min | 92.3 min |
| Inclination | 51.6° | 41.5° |
| Flies over latitudes | up to 51.6° N and S | up to 41.5° N and S |
Its lower inclination means Tiangong never flies directly over places north of about 41.5° N, such as most of Europe. From there it can still appear low in the southern sky, while the ISS passes much higher.