International Space Station over the BA
This is an image of the International Space Station’s flight over Alexandria on 13 April 2008. The orbiting outpost shines as a white streak of light in the center of the image, due to its orbital motion around Earth.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA Senior Astronomy Specialist  

On 13 April 2008, the International Space Station (ISS) flew over Egypt, during evening twilight. The ISS was visible to the unaided eye as a very bright white star, gliding slowly among the star patterns. Observing the graceful spaceflight from the BA Plaza, BA Senior Astronomy Specialist Aymen Ibrahem took exciting images of the orbiting outpost.

The ISS orbits Earth every 91.23 minutes, at an altitude of approximately 340 km. Its orbit is defined as a low Earth orbit. The average speed of the ISS is approximately 28,000 km. It completes nearly 16 orbits every day.

“There were scattered high clouds in the twilight skies,” said Ibrahem. “The ISS shone as a bright white star, drifting from northwest to east, against the background of stars. The ISS reached maximum altitude of 22 degrees above the northeast. The flight lasted slightly over four minutes. It was a wonderful opportunity to photograph the ISS with the Library’s building  in the foreground. The ISS registered on the images as a white streak, due to its motion, but the stars shone as spots of light.” 

The in-orbit construction of the ISS began in 1998. The ISS is a collaboration between NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japanese, Italian, Canadian and Brazilian space agencies.   

Further Reading

ISS – NASA Site
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
A Flight through the Clouds
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An Evening Planetary Parade
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Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist