--- type: "firecrawl-provider" description: "Live International Space Station tracking from the keyless wheretheiss.at REST API: where the ISS is now (latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, sunlit or eclipsed, footprint), its positions at up to 10 past or future times, the current or historical TLE it is computed from, and the time zone and country below any point. One request per call to respect the API's limit of about one request per second." use_when: "Live International Space Station tracking from the keyless wheretheiss.at REST API: where the ISS is now (latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, sunlit or eclipsed, footprint), its positions at up to 10 past or future times, the current or historical TLE it is computed from, and the time zone and country below any point. One request per call to respect the API's limit of about one request per second." categories: "Research" capabilities: 5 credits_per_call: 5 --- # Where the ISS at? (wheretheiss.at) on Firecrawl Alexandria Live International Space Station tracking from the keyless wheretheiss.at REST API: where the ISS is now (latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, sunlit or eclipsed, footprint), its positions at up to 10 past or future times, the current or historical TLE it is computed from, and the time zone and country below any point. One request per call to respect the API's limit of about one request per second. - Categories: Research - Category index: [Research category](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/categories/research) - Provider key: `api-wheretheiss-at` - Access: Firecrawl credits - Cost: 5 credits per call ## More - [Human guide](https://www.firecrawl.dev/app/alexandria/api-wheretheiss-at) - [OpenAPI spec](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/openapi.json) ## Capabilities - [Coordinates](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/coordinates): Time zone and country for a latitude and longitude: IANA time zone id (Etc/GMT+N over open ocean), current UTC offset in hours, ISO country code (null over ocean or unclaimed areas) and a Google Maps link. Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/coordinates/{lat},{lon}. - [Current position](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/current_position): Where the ISS (or another supported satellite) is right now: latitude and longitude of the point below it, altitude, orbital velocity, whether it is sunlit (daylight) or in the Earth's shadow (eclipsed), the diameter of the ground footprint from which it is above the horizon, the subsolar point and the time of the fix. Computed by wheretheiss.at with SGP4 from the latest TLE. Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/{id}?units=. - [List satellites](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/list_satellites): The satellites wheretheiss.at tracks, with NORAD catalog number and short name. Today the list is only the International Space Station (25544, iss). Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites. - [Positions at](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/positions_at): ISS positions at up to 10 given times, past or future, each with latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, daylight or eclipsed and footprint, in request order. Past times use the TLE in force then (history back to the 1998 launch); future times propagate the latest TLE, so accuracy falls off after a few days (a long_range_forecast warning flags times more than 3 days ahead; more than 30 days ahead is refused). Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/{id}/positions?timestamps=. - [Tle](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/tle): The two-line element set (TLE) wheretheiss.at uses for the ISS: the current one, or the one closest to a past time with at. Returns the header (ISS (ZARYA)), both TLE lines (checked to be 69 characters and to name the satellite), the TLE epoch, the requested time and the TLE's age in hours at that time (negative when the closest set is slightly later). Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/{id}/tles[?timestamp=]. ## 1. Choose this provider when Live International Space Station tracking from the keyless wheretheiss.at REST API: where the ISS is now (latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, sunlit or eclipsed, footprint), its positions at up to 10 past or future times, the current or historical TLE it is computed from, and the time zone and country below any point. One request per call to respect the API's limit of about one request per second. ## 2. Minimal request Call `POST https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/scrape` with `{ alexandria: { provider, capability, options } }`. For a batch, send `{ alexandria: [...] }` with up to 10 calls. ```json { "provider": "api-wheretheiss-at", "capability": "satellites/coordinates", "options": { "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693 } } ``` ## 3. Add provider options Use only the options needed for the task: - `latitude` (number, required): latitude Example: `10` - `longitude` (number, required): longitude Example: `10` ## 4. Request through your preferred interface ### JavaScript ```javascript const result = await firecrawl.scrape({ alexandria: { provider: "api-wheretheiss-at", capability: "satellites/coordinates", options: { latitude: 37.795517, longitude: -122.393693, }, }, }); ``` ### Python ```python result = firecrawl.scrape_alexandria({ "provider": "api-wheretheiss-at", "capability": "satellites/coordinates", "options": { "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693 } }) ``` ### cURL ```sh curl https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/scrape \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIRECRAWL_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "alexandria": { "provider": "api-wheretheiss-at", "capability": "satellites/coordinates", "options": { "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693 } } }' ``` ### CLI ```sh firecrawl scrape 'api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/coordinates' \ --options '{"latitude":37.795517,"longitude":-122.393693}' ``` ### MCP Call the FCX MCP retrieve tool with this object: ```json { "provider": "api-wheretheiss-at", "capability": "satellites/coordinates", "options": { "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693 } } ``` Ask for only the returned fields needed by the task. ## 5. Full request shape ```json { "provider": "api-wheretheiss-at", "capability": "satellites/coordinates", "options": { "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693 } } ``` ## 6. Response data The response includes `success`, `provider`, `capability`, `creditsCost` and `data`. This example shows the provider payload in `data`: ```json { "country_code": "US", "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693, "map_url": "https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.795517,-122.393693&z=4", "observed_at_ms": 1794421800000, "source_url": "https://api.wheretheiss.at/v1/coordinates/37.795517,-122.393693", "timezone_id": "America/Los_Angeles", "utc_offset_hours": -8 } ``` ## API reference-derived contract The following capability contract is generated from the same normalized Alexandria API reference exposed in the API spec. ### Coordinates - Capability: `satellites/coordinates` - Description: Time zone and country for a latitude and longitude: IANA time zone id (Etc/GMT+N over open ocean), current UTC offset in hours, ISO country code (null over ocean or unclaimed areas) and a Google Maps link. Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/coordinates/{lat},{lon}. - Instructions: Which country or time zone is the ISS over: pass the latitude and longitude from current_position or positions_at. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Coordinates](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/coordinates) Accepted options: - `latitude` (number, required): latitude Example: `10` - `longitude` (number, required): longitude Example: `10` Response schema example: ```json { "country_code": "US", "latitude": 37.795517, "longitude": -122.393693, "map_url": "https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.795517,-122.393693&z=4", "observed_at_ms": 1794421800000, "source_url": "https://api.wheretheiss.at/v1/coordinates/37.795517,-122.393693", "timezone_id": "America/Los_Angeles", "utc_offset_hours": -8 } ``` ### Current position - Capability: `satellites/current_position` - Description: Where the ISS (or another supported satellite) is right now: latitude and longitude of the point below it, altitude, orbital velocity, whether it is sunlit (daylight) or in the Earth's shadow (eclipsed), the diameter of the ground footprint from which it is above the horizon, the subsolar point and the time of the fix. Computed by wheretheiss.at with SGP4 from the latest TLE. Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/{id}?units=. - Instructions: Where is the ISS now, which part of the Earth is it over, how high and how fast is it, is it in sunlight. Feed the latitude and longitude to coordinates to get the country and time zone below it. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Current position](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/current_position) Accepted options: - `satellite_id` (number): NORAD catalog number; defaults to 25544, the ISS, the only satellite the API serves today (see list_satellites). Example: `25544` - `units` (string): kilometers (altitude km, velocity km/h) or miles (altitude mi, velocity mph). Example: `kilometers` Response schema example: ```json { "altitude": 438.122, "footprint": 4598.535, "julian_day": 2461356.2701157, "latitude": -51.175742, "longitude": -140.337919, "name": "iss", "observed_at_ms": 1794421800000, "satellite_id": 25544, "solar_latitude": -17.570896, "solar_longitude": 258.767712, "source_url": "https://api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/25544?units=kilometers", "time": "2026-11-11T18:28:58Z", "timestamp": 1794421738, "units": "kilometers", "velocity": 27531.879, "visibility": "daylight" } ``` ### List satellites - Capability: `satellites/list_satellites` - Description: The satellites wheretheiss.at tracks, with NORAD catalog number and short name. Today the list is only the International Space Station (25544, iss). Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites. - Instructions: Check which satellite ids current_position, positions_at and tle accept before asking for something other than the ISS. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [List satellites](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/list_satellites) Accepted options: Response schema example: ```json { "observed_at_ms": 1794421800000, "satellites": [ { "name": "iss", "satellite_id": 25544 } ], "source_url": "https://api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites", "total": 1 } ``` ### Positions at - Capability: `satellites/positions_at` - Description: ISS positions at up to 10 given times, past or future, each with latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, daylight or eclipsed and footprint, in request order. Past times use the TLE in force then (history back to the 1998 launch); future times propagate the latest TLE, so accuracy falls off after a few days (a long_range_forecast warning flags times more than 3 days ahead; more than 30 days ahead is refused). Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/{id}/positions?timestamps=. - Instructions: Ground track over the next orbit (e.g. ten times one minute apart), where the ISS was at a past moment, or where it will be at a planned time. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Positions at](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/positions_at) Accepted options: - `satellite_id` (number): NORAD catalog number; defaults to 25544, the ISS, the only satellite the API serves today (see list_satellites). Example: `25544` - `timestamps` (number[], required): 1 to 10 times; Unix seconds or ISO-8601 date-times. Example: `[]` - `units` (string): kilometers (altitude km, velocity km/h) or miles (altitude mi, velocity mph). Example: `kilometers` Response schema example: ```json { "observed_at_ms": 1794421800000, "positions": [ { "altitude": 231.342, "footprint": 2644.805, "julian_day": 2451544.5, "latitude": 22.826542, "longitude": -162.60526, "name": "iss", "satellite_id": 25544, "solar_latitude": -23.070626, "solar_longitude": 180.770853, "time": "2000-01-01T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 946684800, "units": "miles", "velocity": 17208.232, "visibility": "daylight" } ], "satellite_id": 25544, "source_url": "https://api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/25544/positions?timestamps=946684800&units=miles", "units": "miles" } ``` ### Tle - Capability: `satellites/tle` - Description: The two-line element set (TLE) wheretheiss.at uses for the ISS: the current one, or the one closest to a past time with at. Returns the header (ISS (ZARYA)), both TLE lines (checked to be 69 characters and to name the satellite), the TLE epoch, the requested time and the TLE's age in hours at that time (negative when the closest set is slightly later). Source: GET api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/{id}/tles[?timestamp=]. - Instructions: Need the ISS TLE to run your own SGP4 propagation, or the historical TLE for a past date. For other satellites use celestrak-org. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Tle](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/api-wheretheiss-at/satellites/tle) Accepted options: - `at` (number): Unix seconds (e.g. 1794421520) or an ISO-8601 date-time with Z or an offset (e.g. 2026-11-11T18:00:00Z). From 1998-11-20T06:40:00Z (ISS launch) to 30 days ahead. Example: `10` - `satellite_id` (number): NORAD catalog number; defaults to 25544, the ISS, the only satellite the API serves today (see list_satellites). Example: `25544` Response schema example: ```json { "header": "ISS (ZARYA)", "line1": "1 25544U 98067A 26314.88456348 .00009976 00000+0 18692-3 0 9991", "line2": "2 25544 51.6322 294.1523 0007308 11.5147 348.6007 15.49305067594493", "name": "iss", "observed_at_ms": 1794421800000, "requested_time": "2026-11-11T18:29:08Z", "requested_timestamp": 1794421748, "satellite_id": 25544, "source_url": "https://api.wheretheiss.at/v1/satellites/25544/tles", "tle_age_hours": 21.26, "tle_time": "2026-11-10T21:13:46Z", "tle_timestamp": 1794345226 } ```