Open Notify ISS API

api.open-notify.org · Science

Science No Auth Free & Open Space ISS Real-time

Real-time International Space Station location and crew data. Get the current lat/lon of the ISS and the names of astronauts in space right now. No API key required.

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET Get ISS location

Get the current location (lat/lon) of the ISS.

http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json"

import requests
response = requests.get(
    "http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json",
)
print(response.json())

const url = 'http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json';

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	targetURL := "http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json"
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json")

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json";
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get astronauts in space

Get the names and spacecraft of all people currently in space.

http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json"

import requests
response = requests.get(
    "http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json",
)
print(response.json())

const url = 'http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json';

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	targetURL := "http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json"
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json")

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json";
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

No API key needed
ISS location: GET http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json
Astronauts: GET http://api.open-notify.org/astros.json
Note: uses HTTP not HTTPS

What can you build with Open Notify ISS API?

Open Notify ISS API is a Science API. Developers commonly use science APIs for:

accessing research datasets and scientific literature
powering academic and R&D applications
running scientific calculations and simulations
visualising experimental and observational data
integrating with research and reference databases

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. Open Notify ISS API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide

Open documentation ↗