Int'l Space Station Did Orbit Nearly Directly Over Long Beach Between 5:47-5:53 p.m. Today (Sat. Dec. 27)

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Int'l Space Station ~~Will~~ Did Orbit Nearly Directly Over Long Beach Between 5:47-5:53 p.m. Today (Sat. Dec. 27)

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(Dec. 27, 2014) -- As previewed on LBREPORT.com, Long Beach got a beautiful clear sky view of the International Space Station at early evening as it orbited nearly directly over Long Beach.

The giant spacecraft, traveling at roughly 17,200 mph, first became visible in the NW sky at about 5:47 p.m., then rose to an sky elevation of 86 degrees (90 degrees would be directly over us) at 5:50 p.m. The Space Station then headed into the southeast sky, and disappeared from view at about 5:53 p.m.

At its closest point, the spacecraft was only roughly 253 miles above us.

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Image via Heavens-Above.com

The photo below shows the giant spacecraft. It has a mass of roughly 990,000 lbs.

Image via NASA.gov

And yes, there are real people inside the International Space Station. Pictured from left to right in photo below are (front row) NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore (left), commander; and Terry Virts, flight engineer. Pictured from the left (back row) are Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, all flight engineers. Photo credit: NASA/Bill StaffordPhoto credit: