SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - You may have seen a bright light passing through the sky over the last couple of nights. It's the International Space Station and you might be able to see it Friday night.

The International Space Station was launched and put into orbit in 1998. The first crew arrived in 2000. The space station is about 200 miles above Earth and orbits the planet 16 times a day. It travels at a speed of 17,000 mile per hour.

The space station's orbit recently has been taking it across the United States so it's possible to see it, but because it's moving so fast it'll be hard to see with a telescope.

Richard Sanderson, from the Springfield Science Museum, tells 22News, The best way to see it is with your naked eye. It's a very bright object, one of the brightest objects in the sky at night when it's visible, so it's very easy to see and once you spot it you want to try and track it with binoculars if you can.

If you want to track the International Space Station , and for the times and dates that you'll be able to see it, click here .

Originally posted here:

Intl Space Station visible in night sky