The International Space Station will be making quite a few evening passes over the region during the coming week. And while most are too short or too low to the horizon for a rewarding view, two flybys will be especially bright and high in our skies.

And, it's a two-fer. You get to see the ISS, along with the shuttle Endeavour, which is docked with the station until its scheduled return to Earth on July 31.

So pick up the babies and grab the old ladies, and everyone step outside for a look at a hundred billion of your (and many other countries') tax dollars as they soar overhead. There are 13 people up there now, including the six members of the ISS crew, and seven members of the shuttle Endeavour crew. That's a record - the most people ever to fly in space at the same time, and the biggest crowd ever in orbit.

On Thursday evening, watch for the ISS/Endeavour to rise above the northeast horizon at 9:45 p.m. It will look like a very bright star, hustling briskly toward the east. When we first pick it up it will be flying about 216 miles  the Great Lakes. It will pass just "above" the North Star, rising more than halfway up the northeastern sky by 9:50 p.m. Then, it will slide off toward the east, disappearing into the Earth's shadow at 9:51 p.m.

If you miss that pass (or if skies are cloudy), you'll get a second chance on Saturday as the ISS and Endeavour make an almost identical pass, a bit earlier in the evening. Watch for them in the northwest again, appearing at 9:01 p.m. The pair will reach their highest point above the northeast horizon at 9:04 p.m., then head off toward the eastern horizon, disappearing there at 9:06 p.m.

Enjoy. (And whatever you do, don't tell my wife I'm blogging on vacation time.)

(NASA Photo)