You can watch Earth pass beneath the International Space Station (ISS) through NASA’s live external-camera stream, with an ISS location tracker on the same page. The view changes as the station travels around the planet; darkness, a gray screen, or occasional recorded footage can all be normal parts of the feed.
Where to watch NASA’s live Earth view
Open NASA Johnson Space Center’s Earth Science and Remote Sensing live camera page for the current Earth view and an ISS tracker. NASA describes the video as coming from an external HD camera on the station. Its official stream description identifies the camera as mounted on the Harmony module.
The video is a public-facing view, not a calibrated Earth-observation service. It is useful for watching the planet and the station’s changing perspective, but it is not designed to provide scientific measurements or detailed geographic imagery.
What you may see on the stream
Earth moving beneath the station
The camera view changes as the ISS travels along its orbit. NASA’s historical description of the station’s orbit says one circuit took about 90 minutes, with roughly 45 minutes on the night side; those figures describe the orbit in the older APOD account, not a promise about a particular viewing session. NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
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Black picture: the station is over the night side
A black image can simply mean the ISS is passing over the dark side of Earth. If clouds do not hide the surface, points of light from cities and other illumination may be visible at night.
Gray picture: a video or communications interruption
NASA says gray can appear when the ground-support computer temporarily stops sending video and needs a reset. The legacy HDEV system could also show gray during camera switching or when communications with the station were unavailable.
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“Previously Recorded”: a substitute view
If the Harmony camera is unavailable for operational reasons for an extended period, NASA’s stream may show a continuous loop of recorded Earth views. The stream description says that this footage is marked “Previously Recorded,” so check the caption before assuming the image is live.
Is this the old HDEV stream?
No. NASA’s current page describes a live feed from an external HD camera; it does not say that the original High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) payload is still operating. HDEV was a separate technology experiment. It was activated on April 30, 2014, stopped sending data on July 18, 2019, and NASA declared it at end of life on August 22, 2019. NASA’s HDEV Final Report
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HDEV’s main purpose was to test how commercial cameras and their enclosure performed in the space environment. NASA’s guide says the legacy payload had four fixed cameras—one facing forward, two aft, and one pointed down toward Earth. It operated one camera at a time and had no zoom, pan, or tilt. The public stream became a valuable outreach benefit, but the payload was an engineering demonstration rather than a purpose-built mapping instrument. NASA’s HDEV guide
Why the old stream mattered
HDEV gave viewers an unusually direct window onto Earth while also testing camera and enclosure performance outside the station. NASA Johnson Space Center’s 2020 final report says the experiment streamed for five years and 79 days before reaching end of life. During that period, USTREAM alone counted more than 318 million viewers cumulatively. The report also recorded an average of 1,333 viewers at any given moment, with viewers from as many as 237 countries and dependencies plus 54 U.S. states and territories. These are historical figures for HDEV on USTREAM, not current audience statistics for NASA’s present camera.
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Can you replay or save the video?
NASA says HDEV footage is not usually recorded or publicly archived. Its current page suggests using open-source or commercial screen-recording software if you want to capture the stream; NASA does not endorse a particular recorder. Be mindful that a recording may include recorded footage, interruptions, or other material, and follow applicable rights guidance before republishing it.
For NASA Earth photography and video, the agency’s astronaut-photography FAQ requests credit to the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center. NASA material must not be used to state or imply that NASA endorses a commercial product. If a clip includes recognizable people, third-party music, or other copyrighted material, those rights may require separate consideration. NASA astronaut-photography FAQ
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