Skies should be clear tonight, so Marylanders who are willing to step outside for a few minutes  just after 9 p.m. will have a fine view of the International Space Station as it flies from high over northern Mississippi to Maine.

Because the space shuttle Atlantis, launched yesterday, is headed for the Hubble Space Telescope this time, and not the space station, we will not be treated to a two-fer. But while the shuttle is not visible this week from Maryland, the space station will be making a very bright pass that should be visible to anyone - even in city lights - who can find an unobstructed view of the northwestern sky.

The ISS will be following nearly the same track it flew on Sunday evening. It will first become visible at 9:13 p.m. EDT, low in the western sky, just below Castor and Pollux, the twin stars in Gemini. From there, it will sweep across the northwestern sky like a steady, white, moving star. It should be the brightest object in that part of the heavens. It will rise more than halfway to the zenith (straight up), passing below the cup of the Big Dipper at about 9:16 before heading off toward the northeast, slipping close by Polaris, the North Star, and then disappearing at 9:18 p.m. EDT

The ISS currently has three crew members on board. That's Koichi Wakata, flight engineer, of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, in the photo. Now that the station has its full complement of solar panels, there are plans to increase the crew soon to six people. Construction is scheduled to continue into 2010, until the space shuttle fleet is retired.

Until then we can marvel as the huge contraption soars silently across the sky at 17,500 mph, reflecting the sun's light and reminding us where billions and billions of our tax dollars have gone.