Every 90 minutes, the space station laps the whole planet.
Every 90 minutes, the space station laps the whole planet. Not because it's small — because the ISS is moving at about 7.66 kilometres per second. That's roughly 28,000 kilometres per hour, fast enough to cross the United Kingdom in under a minute. Up there, 400 kilometres above your head, the crew don't get a 24-hour day like you do. They see the sun rise and set 16 times in a single day — once every 90 minutes, on repeat. Day, night, day, night, cycling faster than most people's meetings. Humans have lived aboard that station continuously since November 2000. Over two decades without a single gap, watching sunrise after sunrise that nobody on the ground will ever quite imagine. Follow Deep Field Vault for more of the universe, one orbit at a time.