The International Space Station hurled through Orion's Belt in this image captured by Laura Austin.
Austin snapped this well-timed image on Sept. 10 from Sarnia, Ontaria, Canada. For Austin, any viewing of the space station is a special moment.
"Wow! Honestly every time I see the ISS hurl across the sky I am in awe. I wonder what the six astronauts are doing aboard the space laboratory. Working off the Earth for Earth," Austin wrote in an email. "I watch with the thought of anything is possible, and I think of how lucky am I that I live in a time to witness such advanced space exploration." [Photos: Spotting Spaceships and Satellites from Earth]
The International Space Station is a permanently occupied outpost in outer space, serving as a laboratory for new technologies and an observation platform for astronomical, environmental and geological research. It flies at an average altitude of 248 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth circling the globe every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h). In one day, the station travels about the distance it would take to go from Earth to the moon and back. It can be seen from Earth without the use of a telescope by night sky observers.
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