The sun rises and sets for the astronauts sixteen times daily
For a few mornings between August 24 and 27, residents of Savona, Italy need only step outside before dawn to witness one of humanity's most enduring collaborative achievements cross the sky. The International Space Station — orbiting 400 kilometers above Earth at 28,000 kilometers per hour — will trace a bright arc from southwest to northeast over the Ligurian coast, carrying among its crew the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, recently the first European woman to conduct a spacewalk. In an age often marked by division, this small point of light moving through the pre-dawn darkness carries the quiet weight of what nations can build together.
- The viewing window is narrow and unforgiving — the station passes in the early morning hours, as early as 4:42 AM, leaving little room for the unprepared.
- Aboard the station, time itself is distorted: astronauts experience sixteen sunrises every 24 hours, forcing the crew to hang curtains over portholes just to sleep.
- Samantha Cristoforetti's presence adds a charged personal dimension for Italian observers — the light in the sky is not abstract; it carries one of their own.
- The station travels through the thermosphere, shielded by Earth's magnetosphere, a boundary only the Apollo missions ever crossed — a reminder of how far humanity has gone, and how carefully it still treads.
- For those willing to set an alarm and look up, the passage offers a rare, unmediated encounter with the scale and ambition of international human cooperation.
Tra il 24 e il 27 agosto, la Stazione Spaziale Internazionale effettuerà una serie di passaggi visibili sopra Savona, ma solo per chi è disposto a svegliarsi prima dell'alba. Il primo avvistamento è previsto per le 5:28 del mattino; nei giorni successivi l'orario si anticipa progressivamente, fino alle 4:42. La stazione attraverserà il cielo ligure da sudovest a nordest, come un punto luminoso che si muove con velocità deliberata nel buio.
La ISS orbita a circa 400 chilometri dalla superficie terrestre, viaggiando a 28.000 chilometri orari e completando un giro del pianeta ogni 90 minuti. A bordo, gli astronauti — da due a sette a seconda della fase della missione — vivono un ritmo straordinario: il sole sorge e tramonta sedici volte al giorno. Per riuscire a dormire, l'equipaggio ha installato tende speciali sugli oblò della stazione.
Tra gli astronauti attualmente a bordo c'è Samantha Cristoforetti, che a fine luglio è diventata la prima donna europea a effettuare un'attività extraveicolare in orbita bassa. La sua presenza conferisce un significato particolare all'osservazione: quel punto di luce nel cielo pre-alba non trasporta solo attrezzature scientifiche, ma anche una connazionale al lavoro nel vuoto dello spazio.
La ISS orbita nella termosfera, all'interno del campo magnetico terrestre — una protezione che solo le missioni Apollo hanno mai abbandonato, avventurandosi nello spazio profondo. Il progetto è nato nel 1998 come collaborazione tra le agenzie spaziali di Stati Uniti, Europa, Russia, Canada e Giappone, con il primo equipaggio arrivato nel 2000. Per chi a Savona vorrà puntare la sveglia e uscire nel buio dell'alba, il passaggio della stazione sarà un promemoria visibile di ciò che l'umanità sa costruire quando lavora insieme.
Starting August 24, the International Space Station will make a series of passes directly over Savona, Italy—but only if you're willing to wake before dawn. The first sighting is scheduled for 5:28 in the morning, with subsequent passes occurring at nearly the same hour over the following three days, each one creeping earlier: 4:42 on August 25, back to 5:28 on August 26, then 4:42 again on August 27. The station will travel from southwest to northeast across the Ligurian sky, a bright point moving with deliberate speed across the darkness.
What makes this possible to see at all is the station's altitude and the angle of the sun at that hour. The ISS orbits roughly 400 kilometers above Earth's surface, traveling at approximately 28,000 kilometers per hour. At that speed and height, it completes a full circuit of the planet every 90 minutes. This means the station experiences an extraordinary rhythm of day and night—the sun rises and sets for the astronauts aboard sixteen times in a single 24-hour period. To manage this relentless cycle, the crew members, who number anywhere from two to seven depending on the mission phase, have installed special curtains over the station's portholes. Without them, sleep would be nearly impossible.
Among those currently aboard is Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut who made history at the end of July when she became the first European woman to conduct a spacewalk in low Earth orbit. Her presence on the station adds a particular resonance for observers in her home country—the bright object crossing the pre-dawn sky carries not just scientific equipment and supplies, but a fellow Italian working in the vacuum of space.
The station itself orbits within the thermosphere, the layer of atmosphere that lies within Earth's magnetic field. This is a crucial distinction: the ISS remains protected by the magnetosphere, the electromagnetic shield that surrounds our planet. Only the Apollo missions ventured beyond this boundary into deep space. The thermosphere is also home to the ionosphere, a region where radio waves reflect and where, near the magnetic poles, solar wind from deep space interacts with the upper atmosphere to create the aurora borealis and australis.
The International Space Station is not a single nation's achievement. The project began in 1998, with the first crew arriving in 2000. It represents a collaboration among the space agencies of the United States, Europe, Russia, Canada, and Japan—a rare instance of sustained international cooperation in the cosmos. For residents of Savona willing to set an alarm and step outside in the pre-dawn darkness, the station's passage is a visible reminder of that shared human effort, a point of light moving with purpose across the sky.
Notable Quotes
Astronauts use special curtains on the portholes to manage sleep cycles created by sixteen sunrises and sunsets per day— Technical description of ISS operations
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the ISS pass over the same place at nearly the same time for several days in a row?
The station orbits every 90 minutes, so it traces the same ground path repeatedly. But Earth is rotating beneath it, so each pass shifts slightly westward. That's why Savona sees it at slightly different times—the station is there, but the city's rotation changes when it arrives overhead.
And the early morning timing—is that arbitrary, or does it matter?
It matters entirely. At dawn, the sun is low on the horizon, so it illuminates the station while the ground is still dark. That contrast is what makes it visible. Later in the day, the station would be lost in the brightness of the sky.
Sixteen sunrises a day sounds impossible. How do the astronauts function?
They don't experience it consciously the way we would. They're on a strict schedule—they work and sleep on mission time, usually aligned with Houston or Moscow. The curtains block the light so their bodies can follow that rhythm, not the station's.
Samantha Cristoforetti just did a spacewalk. Is she looking down at Savona when the ISS passes over?
Possibly, if she's awake and near a window at that moment. But she's likely focused on her work schedule, not on tracking which Italian city is passing below. Still, for people in Savona, knowing she's up there makes the light in the sky mean something different.
Why does it matter that the ISS stays within the magnetosphere?
Because it means the station and its crew remain within Earth's protective magnetic field. The Apollo astronauts who went to the moon crossed beyond that shield into open space. The ISS never does. It's a boundary that matters—psychologically, physically, scientifically.