Open Notify ISS Tracker Scraper

Open Notify ISS Tracker Scraper

Track the International Space Station in real time. Get its current latitude, longitude, and timestamp, plus the full list of astronauts in space right now. Uses the free Open Notify API. No key, no registration. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The Open Notify API provides live ISS tracking data without authentication, but calling it repeatedly from a script means you handle rate limits, pagination, and data formatting yourself. This Actor polls the API on your schedule, collects the current ISS position and the people in space, and returns every record in one flat, consistent schema. It is the fastest way to pipe real-time space station data into a spreadsheet, dashboard, or database.

Who uses it	What they scrape Open Notify for
STEM educators	Showing students the ISS's real-time location and who is on board during a lesson.
Hobbyist developers	Feeding live ISS coordinates into a personal dashboard or map visualization.
Data journalists	Capturing astronaut rosters and ISS pass data for a space-themed story.
Space enthusiasts	Logging the ISS position over time to analyze its orbital pattern.

What it does

This Actor collects the current International Space Station position and the list of astronauts in space from the Open Notify API and returns each record as a flat row.

• 🛰️ Real-time ISS position: current latitude, longitude, and a UTC timestamp from the Open Notify server.
• 👨‍🚀 Astronauts in space: one row per person, with their name and the spacecraft they are on.
• 🔢 Configurable record limit: set a cap from 1 up to 1,000,000 records to control dataset size and cost.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Open Notify data

🛰️ Build a live ISS tracker dashboard.

A hobbyist developer runs the Actor every 30 seconds, pipes the latitude and longitude into a mapping library, and displays the station's current position on a personal website.

👨‍🚀 Monitor crew rotations on the space station.

A space blogger schedules a daily run that captures the astronaut list, then diffs it against the previous day to detect crew changes and write timely posts.

📚 Create a classroom STEM activity.

A teacher runs the Actor at the start of class, exports the CSV, and has students plot the ISS coordinates on a world map while discussing orbital mechanics.

📈 Log ISS position history for analysis.

A data enthusiast runs the Actor every minute for a week, accumulates the dataset, and calculates the station's speed and orbital period from the raw coordinates.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key needed	Open Notify is a free, public API with no authentication, and this Actor handles the calls for you.
Flat, predictable schema	Every run returns the same columns, whether you collect position data, astronaut data, or both.
Runs on autopilot	Schedule the Actor to poll every few minutes and build a time-series dataset of ISS movements.

How it compares

This Actor and the two direct competitors below all pull from the same free Open Notify API. The differences are in which data points each one exposes and how they handle repeated polling.

Feature	ParseForge	ISS Tracker - Space Station & Astronauts	Iss Tracker Scraper
Current ISS latitude and longitude	Yes	Yes	Yes
Current astronauts in space	Yes	Yes	Yes
Astronaut spacecraft name	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Configurable record limit for time-series polling	Yes, up to 1,000,000	Not listed	Not listed
Independent toggles for position and astronaut data	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
ISS pass predictions for a ground location	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Toggle the ISS position and astronaut list on or off independently, and set a maximum number of records to collect per run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.005 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.50
1,000 results	$5.00
10,000 results	$50.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Open Notify ISS Tracker Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Open Notify through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/opennotify-iss-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that at least one of 'Include ISS Position' or 'Include Astronauts' is set to true. If both are off, the Actor has nothing to collect. Also verify that your maxItems is set to 1 or higher.

Why does the Actor return only 10 records when I set a higher limit?

Free Apify accounts are capped at 10 records per run. Upgrade to a paid plan to collect up to the 1,000,000 record maximum.

The ISS position seems stale or not updating between runs.

The API returns a fresh position on each call. If you are scheduling runs, make sure the interval between runs is long enough for the Actor to finish. Check the run logs for any API timeout errors.

I see duplicate astronaut records in my dataset.

If you run the Actor multiple times, each run captures the astronaut list as it exists at that moment. Duplicates across runs are expected. Use a deduplication step in your downstream processing if you need a unique list.

The Actor fails with a timeout error.

The Open Notify API may occasionally be slow or unavailable. The Actor will retry automatically. If failures persist, wait a few minutes and try again, or check the Open Notify service status.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an API key for Open Notify?	No. The Open Notify API is free and public, with no authentication required. This Actor calls it directly on your behalf.
How often does the ISS position update?	The Open Notify API returns the station's position at the moment you call it. To track movement over time, schedule the Actor to run at your desired interval, such as every 30 seconds.
What does the astronaut list include?	Each astronaut record contains the person's name and the spacecraft they are currently aboard. The list reflects who is in space at the moment the API is called.
Can I collect only the ISS position without the astronaut data?	Yes. Set 'Include Astronauts' to false in the input and the Actor will return only the position records.
Can I collect only the astronaut list without the position?	Yes. Set 'Include ISS Position' to false and the Actor will return only the astronaut records.
What is the maximum number of records I can collect?	Free Apify users are limited to 10 records per run as a preview. Paid users can set the limit up to 1,000,000 records.
Why would I collect more than one record if the data is real-time?	The Actor can be scheduled to run repeatedly. Setting a higher record limit allows a single long-running execution to poll the API many times and build a time-series dataset.
What format is the timestamp in?	The timestamp is a Unix epoch value in seconds, as returned by the Open Notify API. You can convert it to a human-readable date in your spreadsheet or script.
Does this Actor track other satellites?	No. It only queries the Open Notify API, which provides data for the International Space Station. For other satellites, you would need a different data source.
Is the ISS position data accurate?	The Open Notify API calculates the position from orbital elements that are updated daily. It is accurate enough for tracking and visualization but is not a real-time navigation-grade source.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Open Notify. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.