Space station to make two overhead passes

TAMPA - You'll have a good chance to see the International Space Station pass overhead over the next few days, but you may have to get up early to catch it.

According to NASA, the station will be visible -- weather permitting -- during the predawn hours of Sunday, December 6 and again on Tuesday, December 8.

The station, with its Expedition 22 crew aboard, is about 225 miles up. Traveling at five miles per second, the space station will look like a very bright star, which doesn't twinkle or blink, moving quickly across the sky like an aircraft.

Watching from Tampa at 6:31 a.m. Sunday, the station will approach from the southwest and disappear over the horizon in the northeast. It will be visible for about five minutes.

Then again at 5:44 a.m. Tuesday, the station will move from the west, southwest toward the northeast and be visible for three minutes.

FOX 13 meteorologist Jim Weber says Sunday should be your best shot. The weather will be much better that morning than Tuesday, which will have a good chance of clouds and rain.

For sighting opportunities from specific cities in Florida, visit NASA's tracking website.