If you are able to pull yourself from the multitude of screens in your home, you may be able to see a truly out of this world show pass directly over your home.

The International Space Station is a huge space outpost that has been orbiting the earth since 1998. Weighing nearly a million pounds, the football field size craft orbits the earth every 92.9 minutes as it travels 17,100 miles an hour, about 260 miles above us. Since launch, there have been a total of 290 people from 26 countries aboard the station.

Since the craft orbits the earth that is in constant rotation, the land that it is passing over changes on every orbit. This means that at some point it passes over every spot on earth.

That’s right, this giant million-pound mass of metal, flying through space at more than 17,000 miles per hour has likely passed directly over your house.

If you know when this is going to happen, you can clearly see it as it passes overhead.

I happen to be lucky in terms of my view of the sky. I can see west forever and the other directions for a lot further than most.

I live away from the lights of the city so I can see the milky way, high flying jets and other things that pass high overhead.

I can also clearly see the International Space State when it pays a visit to my neighborhood. So can you with a little luck.

Obviously, you will need a clear night. It will also help if it is moonless, although the ISS is so bright you can see it regardless. You need to be able to clearly see a large section of the sky, and finally the station needs to be “in your neighborhood.”

The last requirement is a tough one. Fortunately, there are some pretty cool tools to help you know when the station is in your neck of the woods.

NASA has produced the appropriately named Spot the Station app for your smart phone that makes spotting the station very easy.

Download the free app and set it up for your location. It will then display a three-dimensional globe with your location as well as the current location of the orbiting space station. To keep you from having to “watch” the station on the app until it is overhead, the app has a feature that will notify you when it is about to fly over. You can set the notifications to not ding your phone when you are normally sleeping.

A virtual reality feature can help you locate the station as soon as it pops over the horizon.

Early one recent evening the orbit of the station passed nearly directly over the area, so it was visible for a few minutes. I was able to see it from horizon to horizon. I was even able to take a photo of it. Viewing periods are shorter when the orbit is further away from directly overhead.

When it passes over, what you are seeing is the sun reflecting off the metal structure. It appears like a fast moving, extremely bright, star before appearing to dim somewhat as it gets closer to the horizon.

Unlike planes passing over in the night sky, there are no blinking light, and it will be much brighter.

The station is due to stay in orbit until 2030, so you have a few years to catch it as it glides silently over your house.

Art Smith is online manager of The Marietta Times and The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. He can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com.