Pretoria - If they can manage it, South Africans and international visitors to the country, have been requested to turn their attention away from the World Cup for just a few minutes this evening to experience the rare sighting of the International Space Station (ISS).
The Department of Science and Technology calls on South Africans and visiting soccer fans to observe the ISS that will be visible in southern Africa today between 18:25 and 18:29.
According to the department, it will be possible to spot the ISS from Johannesburg between 19 and 27 June. However, it will be at its brightest on 21 June.
"It will rise in the south at 10 degrees above the horizon at 18:25 and orbit directly overhead towards the northwest," said the department.
At exactly 18:22 it will be visible low in the south-west from Cape Town and will pass overhead at 18:25.
It will also be visible from Gauteng, low in the southwest. It will resemble a bright planet moving through the sky.
Similarly, it will be visible all over southern Africa, from the Eastern Cape to Namibia, disappearing at 18:30 over Mozambique.
The ISS, the first space station built as an international cooperative project involving 16 countries, is an internationally developed research facility that is being assembled in low-earth orbit. It is the largest and most complex international scientific project in history.
On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is expected to be completed 2011.
The ISS is primarily a research laboratory and is a long-term space project, where extended studies are conducted.
