As a total solar eclipse crosses North America on Monday (April 8), seven of the 13 people currently in space will be in the right position to see the spectacle from Earth orbit. At the same time, more than 30 other astronauts will be at locations in seven U.S. states and
Canada to help the public understand and enjoy the experience. "As you may know,
NASA has scheduled a solar eclipse during our increment," joked Expedition 70/71
astronaut Michael Barratt during a press conference held prior to his launch to the
International Space Station in March. "Things like this really makes spaceflight quite wonderful." Barratt, along with his NASA astronaut crewmates Matthew Dominick, Jennette Epps and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin will have three chances to see the solar eclipse as the space station's orbit takes them close to — but not into — the path of totality. The first two passes will provide a view from above the Pacific Ocean and then over
California and Idaho. At its closest, the space station will be to the west of Labrador, Canada, north of Maine, from where a 94 percent partial eclipse will be directly overhead. Still, looking out from the orbiting laboratory's windows and using the video cameras mounted on the outside of the station, the crew will be able to capture the shadow of the
moon as it blankets part of the
United States from 3:26 p.m. to 3:46 p.m. EDT (1926 to 1946 GMT). The astronauts' view on Monday will be of a more complete eclipse than what the Expedition 52 crew flew under in 2017 , the last time that a total solar eclipse crossed the continental United States. Seven years ago, the then-six people living on the space station saw the eclipse over the course of three orbits. The passes progressed from a 38 percent partial eclipse to 43.9 percent and finally 85 percent of the moon blocking out the light from the Sun. In the 63-year history of human spaceflight, 23 people have seen a total solar eclipse (as visible from Earth) from space. The Expedition 70 crew will bring that count to 30. "We learned a lot with this last solar eclipse and there have been several that we have been able to photograph from both the Mir space station and International Space Station," Barratt said, addressing a question from collectSPACE.com. "The big difference now is the camera complement that we have. The imagery will be much more crisp [because] we have much more capable cameras on board." "We will stand ready on our very unique platform to capture it the best we can," he said. NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of the Belarus Space Agency will just miss seeing the eclipse, as they are returning to Earth on Saturday (April 6). Three other people are and will be in space on Monday, though they will be in the wrong place to witness the eclipse. Shenzhou 17 taikonauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin are slated to land from China's space station later this month, but they will still be on board the Tiangong laboratory at the time of the eclipse. Unfortunately, their path around Earth will position them too far away from North America on Monday to catch a glimpse of either the moon passing in front of the Sun or the moon's umbra cast down on the planet. "I saw an eclipse off in the distance on the North Atlantic from the ISS. It was spectacular, this large, dark spot slowly moving over the Earth. Surreal," said former NASA astronaut Terry Virts in an interview with collectSPACE. "I'm glad I knew what it was before I saw it, because it was unlike anything I saw from space." "But I had the privilege of seeing the 2017 eclipse from Oregon and WOW! That was really much better than I had imagined," said Virts, who has partnered with Sonic Drive-In to promote the chain's limited edition "Blackout Slush Float" and safe eclipse viewing. "I highly recommend that you take the time to see this 2024 eclipse if you can. We won't have another one for 20 years and I can say without a doubt seeing a total eclipse from Earth is an incredibly special experience." Like Virts, who is heading to Fort Worth to be within the path of totality, more than two dozen former and current astronauts are traveling to locations from
Texas to
New York (and Canada) to be present for the eclipse and to help the public enjoy the occasion. The following list is of astronaut appearances scheduled at eclipse watching events on April 8. It has been compiled from information provided by NASA and details published on the venues' websites. It is organized by location in the order that the eclipse will progress, from southwest to northeast. (Please note that some of these events required registration to attend. Please check with the venue of interest for more information. All times listed are local.) For even more astronaut appearances, including at locations where only a partial eclipse will be visible, see the Sightings calendar on collectSPACE . Submit your photos! If you capture a photo of the April 8 total solar eclipse and would like to share it with Space.com 's readers, send photos, videos, comments, and your name, location and content usage permission release to spacephotos@space.com .
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