ISS pass times · South Africa
When is the ISS visible over Cape Town?
The International Space Station passes over Cape Town several times a day, but you can only see it when the sky above you is dark while the station is still catching sunlight. The list below shows the next passes over Cape Town, South Africa that you can actually watch — with exact local times, where to look, and how bright each one will be.
Next visible passes over Cape Town
Times are Cape Town local time. Computed live from the latest orbital data — only passes you can actually see (after dusk or before dawn, station sunlit).
Calculating passes for Cape Town…
Viewing from Cape Town
At 33.9° latitude, Cape Town gets a healthy mix of ISS passes — from low arcs along the horizon to spectacular near-overhead crossings. High passes here can outshine everything in the night sky except the Moon.
How to read the pass times
Each pass shows its start time in Cape Town local time, the compass direction it travels (for example W→SE means it rises in the west and sets in the southeast), how high it climbs, and its brightness. The higher and brighter the pass, the easier it is to spot — anything rated bright or better is obvious to the naked eye, even from a city. New to this? Read our guide to seeing the ISS or watch the station's position right now on the live tracker.