Okay, Space Cadets, this is an iffy one. The International Space Station will fly high (like, 240 miles high) over Lake Superior tonight, then southeast over New York City and out to sea. That's easily close enough to be seen from the Baltimore area if the weather cooperates.

The forecast isn't great - mostly cloudy and a chance of thunderstorms.  But hey, we might get lucky. It's a nice pass and well worth looking for if we're not totally socked in. Remember - the ISS just got a big new module, delivered from Japan to orbit courtesy of the space shuttle Discovery, which remains docked to the station. That means the whole gigantic Tinker Toy assembly is brighter than ever as sunlight reflects off all that added surface area. So it may even be visible through haze and thin clouds.

Here's the skinny: Watch for the space station to rise out of the northwestern sky, rising above the horizon at about 9:59 p.m.  Look for a really bright, steady, star-like object. If it blinks or has multiple or colored lights, it's an airplane. Keep looking. Better yet, take a kid along. Young eyes are great at this.

By 10:02 p.m. the station will be 56 degrees above the north-northeast horizon - more than halfway between the horizon and the zenith (straight up).

From there it will slip off toward the east, passing just above the bright star Vega, apex of the Summer Triangle. ISS, Discovery and their combined crew of 10 will then slip into the Earth's shadow and disappear from view at 10:03 p.m.

If you miss this pass, or we get clouded out, there are two more almost-as-bright flybys this weekend, and the weather looks more promising. We'll have details on The Sun's print Weather Page Saturday and Sunday. (Also available at MarylandWeather.com).  And, you can calculate your own ISS flyby predictions for your location at Heavens-Above.com,  source of the map below.

See you out there.