About issinfo.net
A passion project born from a shared obsession with the International Space Station and the humans who live and work aboard it.
The Project
issinfo.net started as a simple weekend experiment: could we build a tracker that felt genuinely useful on a phone? The original site was a Go-powered server with Leaflet maps. This version is a complete ground-up rebuild using Next.js and Mapbox, with a focus on mobile-first design, rich live data, and clean SEO.
Everything updates in real time. ISS position is propagated client-side using SGP4 orbital mechanics at 4 Hz between server syncs, giving you smooth continuous motion rather than the jerky updates you see on most trackers. Crew data, pass predictions, Artemis telemetry, and astronaut photography are all pulled from authoritative sources and cached sensibly.
The site is intentionally lean: every page is server-rendered first for fast first paint and complete SEO, with interactive islands (the map, the Artemis canvas, the live crew counter) hydrating on top. We use Cloudflare to cache HTML at the edge so traffic spikes during launches do not punish the backend.
The Team
Neil
Software engineer and lifelong space geek. Built and maintains the backend API, front end, and infrastructure. Watches every ISS pass he can find from Scotland.
Leo
Design, content, and quality assurance. Finds every edge case. Has informed Neil approximately 450 times that the font is slightly wrong.
Data Sources
N2YO.com
Satellite pass predictions (visual and radio)
Open Notify
Current crew list
SpaceDevs Launch Library
Crew biographies, photos, and agency information
Space-Track.org
Two-Line Element sets (TLEs) for orbit propagation
NASA JPL Horizons
Artemis/Orion spacecraft ephemeris data
NASA Gateway (EVAPS)
ISS astronaut Earth photography archive
NASA News RSS
Space station news articles
Technology
Frontend
Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Maps
Mapbox GL JS (globe projection) and CesiumJS
ISS data
N2YO, Open Notify, NASA APIs
Crew data
SpaceDevs Launch Library 2
Artemis
NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris
Photos
NASA Gateway to Astronaut Photography
Analytics
Plausible (no cookies, GDPR-compliant)
Hosting
Docker on Debian 12, behind Cloudflare
Privacy
We use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-first analytics platform. Plausible does not use cookies, does not collect personal data, and is fully GDPR-compliant. We see only aggregate statistics: page views, country-level geography, and referral sources.
The Next Pass predictor uses your browser's geolocation API to determine your coordinates. These coordinates are sent to N2YO only to calculate pass predictions. We do not store them.
No accounts. No login. No advertising. No tracking pixels.
Frequently asked questions
- Is issinfo.net free to use?
- Yes. The entire website and the iOS app are completely free. There are no advertisements, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, and no accounts. The project is funded out of pocket and shared freely with anyone who finds it useful.
- Where do you get your ISS position data?
- Live ISS position is calculated by propagating the most recent Two-Line Element set from Space-Track.org (operated by the U.S. Space Force) using the SGP4 orbital mechanics model. The same propagator runs on our server (for pass predictions and historical ground tracks) and on the client (for smooth, low-latency updates on the live map).
- How often is the data updated?
- TLEs from Space-Track refresh every few hours. Crew bios refresh hourly. Artemis trajectories refresh every 60 seconds during active missions. Pass predictions are calculated on demand from the latest TLE.
- Does issinfo.net track me?
- No. We use Plausible Analytics, which is cookieless, GDPR-compliant, and only records aggregate statistics like page views and country-level geography. The Next Pass tool uses your browser location to calculate predictions but we never store your coordinates server-side.
- Can I use issinfo.net data in my own project?
- Source data (TLEs, NASA imagery, crew bios) comes from the public sources listed in the data sources section above and is subject to those sources’ own terms. We do not currently offer a public API, but if you have a research or educational use case please get in touch.