I'd love to see some discussion on this, but with several previous submissions, none has been forthcoming:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4734657

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4747851

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4747856

Or use TwISSt: https://twitter.com/twisst

I used to call my friends to look up to see it fly by. One friend got everyone working at his restaurant on the roof to see it. It looks like a star crawling across the sky for about a minute. It's not visually spectacular if you don't know what you're looking at.

I would definitely suggest signing up to get text notifications on this. Call your friends to step outside for a minute to see it too. "HEADS UP!"

Check out the ISS Detector. It notifies you when the International Space Station is visible to you with the naked eye based on your location, IIS location, and weather conditions. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.runar.issd...

I use this one:

http://esa.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544...

with the latitude and longitude inserted in the obvious places.

There's an iOS app called GoSatWatch which will notify you when the ISS (or any satellite) passes by your location. Your location can be configured manually or by GPS, so you get the benefit of receiving relevant notifications when away from home. Apps like GoSatWatch will also tell you where in the sky the ISS will be, so you know where to look.

SpaceWeather has been doing text notifications for a long time (http://spaceweathertext.com/), albeit at a monthly cost. They've been doing it for a few years, I think. I'm not positive, because I haven't used their text service.

This website can show you the schedule of the ISS and many other satellites ten days in advance: http://www.heavens-above.com

Which seems to be throwing errors when you try to adjust your location.

It's generally fun to observe. When I've seen ISS, it has been around sunset. It is a readily discernible point of light, in my memory brighter than Venus and certainly brighter than any star, that moves from horizon to horizon in only about 4 minutes ("faster than a speeding plane"), even less time considering trees, buildings, and hills.

Because of the speed, it is helpful to know what place on the horizon the overpass will start at, in addition to the precise time.

It sounds like I should still be able to see it even in an urban area (e.g. San Francisco), is that correct?

I didn't know it passed by that quickly though. I guess I'll see how well NASA's texting service works out then.

Yes, I can see it from San Francisco with no problem!

Yes, I see it in LA without problem. Around sunset is best (I'm not up at sunrise ;-).

I use http://lookup.liekens.net/ to use its GCalendar subscription for local flyovers. I've only had it up a couple weeks but its not exactly been clear skies in Seattle.

Very good app for this is Android SatTrack. It also shows the Iridium Flares.

I get these notifications from TWISST and they're very useful, giving information about location, path, and brightness: http://twisst.nl/

This is very cool and something I am very much looking forward to. What's even great is that it is available in my country. Good things never are.

Unfortunately, my city is not available as an option. They should have a location select using Google Maps or something.

Signing up just to say that NASA regularly texts me.