Space stations showed up many, many times on Doctor Who, as you would expect for a sci-fi TV show.
There was Space Station Nerva, last refuge for a group of humans sleeping out the solar flares in “The Ark in Space”:
The futuristic home of Zoe Herriot in “The Wheel in Space”:
Satellite 5, home of TV news programming through which human social development was being guided to evil purposes in “The Long Game” (and later, to even more sinister purpose in “Bad Wolf”):
All three of these are circular stations which presumably can rotate to produce artificial gravity (and Satellite 5 could even be a Dyson Cylinder a la Babylon 5 — do you really think the number is coincidence?). For years, this has long been considered the most practical arrangement for long-term habitation that is achievable with present technology, and of course Doctor Who is far from alone in adopting it. The most famous example is of course Space Station One from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which interestingly came out almost exactly the same time that the BBC broadcast “The Wheel in Space”.
Real space stations exist, of course, even if they’re not as grand as writers of the 1960s envisioned for the 21st Century. And you can absolutely see them for yourself!
The International Space Station
This is by far the easiest to spot, covering the Earth’s surface from 51 degrees north to 51 degrees south, and bigger and brighter than any other manmade object ever sent into orbit. It would be dwarfed by any of the fictional stations in this list; obviously our aspirations have yet to be matched by our achievements. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive feat of engineering, and easily visible even in light-polluted cities; it sometimes rivals Venus. Most of this light is reflected off of the giant solar arrays and radiators, though the reflective metallic surface of the US segment contributes a great deal as well. Particularly good times to watch for it are just before the arrival of another spacecraft, or just after one departs; although since the retirement of Shuttle, the visiting spacecraft are comparatively dim, they are usually bright enough to see if your skies are fairly clear. The Cygnus cargo vessel has just undocked from ISS; you’ll have to hurry to try and see it, though, as it will make a suicidal plunge into the Pacific Ocean tomorrow (Wednesday). See the end of this article for a series of links to free satellite pass prediction services that you can use to know when and where to go look. 😉
The ISS can even been seen with a telescope, but you have to be *really* good since it’s moving so fast. Fortunately, there’s somebody who is not only really very extremely good, but also willing to post his pictures for the world to see. Theirry Legault is amazing. He photographed Atlantis docked to the ISS during STS-135, the final Shuttle mission, while both transited the Sun, and he’s also made the only known photo from the ground of a spacewalker, during STS-133, among other astonishing ISS photos.
Tiangong-1
This is the Chinese space station. Though much smaller than the ISS, it’s a respectable little lab, capable of operating independently of a crew and accepting repeat visitors. At present, it’s the only other space station in orbit. It’s a little less obvious as it orbits lower in inclination and is much dimmer, but it’s still a large satellite by the standards of low Earth orbit objects and therefore an easy target. Nobody’s on board right now, and China has not announced any plans for another mission, but it’s certainly capable of accepting more guests.
Oh, and of course Thierry Legault has photographed it too. 😉
Observing Space Stations
Space station spotting is exactly like satellite spotting. You just have to know when to look and where, and then watch for a point of light that flies absolutely straight with no change in speed and that usually doesn’t flash. (I say “usually” because although they are much too far away for you to see their running lights, you can seen sunlight glint off of solar panels once in a rare while. This is called a “flare”, and though any spacecraft can flare, the Iridium communications satellites are best known for it.) The big trick is having a reliable pass prediction. There are many sources and cell phone apps that will help you, but my favorites are these. In all cases, you give it your location, and it can tell you what to look for and when.
Heavens Above (lists absolutely everything it possibly can, so if you ask for all visible satellite passes, you’ll see just how much junk there really is flying around overhead — most of the things listed will probably be spent boosters)
SpaceWeather.com’s Simple Satellite Tracker (limited to just the most interesting satellites)
Celestrak (very popular service)
NASA’s J-Track (more oriented towards showing you where they are at any given time)
And you should also check out Thierry Legault’s entire website. His work is truly incredible, and you should not miss it.
Calli Arcale's Fractal Wonder 