The local space context of Houston as this registry holds it — the catalogued human footprint on the ground around it, the orbits that can pass overhead, and the geostationary belt seen from here.
| position | 29.763° N, 95.363° W | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 2,314,157 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matagorda Island, Texas | 201 km SSW (214°) | 28.250° N, 96.500° W | gcat-sites |
| SpaceX McGregor Test Site | 271 km NW (313°) | 31.400° N, 97.460° W | gcat-sites |
| Barksdale AFB | 344 km NNE (26°) | 32.520° N, 93.730° W | gcat-sites |
| Texas Launch Site, Boca Chica Beach, Texas | 454 km SSW (203°) | 25.996° N, 97.154° W | gcat-sites |
| Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas | 454 km SSW (203°) | 25.996° N, 97.154° W | gcat-sites |
| Dyess AFB, Texas | 520 km NW (306°) | 32.421° N, 99.855° W | gcat-sites |
| Port Bienville Launch Area, Gulf of Mexico | 616 km E (86°) | 29.998° N, 88.977° W | gcat-sites |
| Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas | 646 km NNE (27°) | 34.900° N, 92.150° W | gcat-sites |
| Altus AFB | 657 km NNW (327°) | 34.663° N, 99.274° W | gcat-sites |
| Santa Rosa Island, Eglin AFB, Florida | 832 km E (83°) | 30.380° N, 86.740° W | gcat-sites |
| Blue Origin, West Texas Launch Site, Corn Ranch | 918 km WNW (284°) | 31.423° N, 104.757° W | gcat-sites |
| Walker AFB, Roswell, New Mexico | 953 km WNW (297°) | 33.302° N, 104.531° W | gcat-sites |
| Site D3, Cape San Blas, Eglin AFB, Florida | 965 km E (88°) | 29.670° N, 85.370° W | gcat-sites |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starship | Flight 13 | 454 km SSW (203°) | 25.997° N, 97.158° W | launchlibrary |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| STERLING | 626 km ENE (76°) | 31.000° N, 89.000° W | nuclear-tests |
| SALMON | 626 km ENE (76°) | 31.000° N, 89.000° W | nuclear-tests |
| GNOME | 881 km WNW (291°) | 32.250° N, 104.140° W | nuclear-tests |
Distances are great-circle on a sphere of mean radius 6,371 km; bearings are initial true bearings from the city. Each position is the source catalogue's own, read back from the registry.
Of the 23,251 artificial objects the registry places in Earth orbit on 2026-10-18, 20,279 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 29.763° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 2,972 never reach this latitude.
| space station | inclination | can pass overhead |
|---|---|---|
| Bai Xiang | 85.0° | yes |
| International Space Station (+3 docked records) | 51.6° | yes |
| Kosmos-382 | 55.9° | yes |
| Tianhe | 41.5° | yes |
Computed: an orbit's equatorial inclination bounds the latitudes its track reaches (inclination i, or 180° − i when retrograde), from the orbital elements the registry holds. «Can pass overhead» is geometry, not a schedule — when, and whether it is lit and visible, depends on the hour.
The geostationary belt arcs across the southern sky and stands 55.3° above the horizon due south — the elevation to aim at for a satellite at this city's own longitude. Computed: spherical Earth (equatorial radius 6,378.137 km), circular orbit of one sidereal day (42,164 km); good to a few tenths of a degree.
/sim.html#sel=EARTH&tn=1,
then stand at Houston in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.