How to Use Mobile Apps to Spot the Space Station and Iridium Flares

First up, we'll look at why we can spot satellites and explain some of the names you'll encounter when you work with satellite-spotting mobile apps. Since the first artificial satellite, the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, kicked off the space age on Oct. 4, 1957, more than 7,000 objects have been launched into orbit. Many of these were satellites for scientific, telecommunication and military uses, while the rest consisted of spent rocket boosters and other space debris.