ISS Tracker

A vibe-coded night sky companion.

One chilly evening, my kids and I stood in the garden trying to catch a glimpse of the International Space Station soaring overhead. I had NASA’s live feed open on one screen, a satellite tracker on another — and three excited kids tugging at my coat. It was magical, chaotic, and awkward to juggle.

So I hacked together a lightweight web app that puts everything in one place: a live ISS position tracker, a satellite map, and a direct link to NASA’s feed. Nothing fancy — just one clean page that works on mobile.

What It Does

  • Shows where the ISS is right now on a world map

  • Updates in real time (every few seconds)

  • Gives you your local timezone

  • Includes a direct link to NASA’s live ISS feed

  • Mobile-friendly and super lightweight (no bloat)

Tech Used

  • HTML / CSS / JavaScript (vanilla)

  • Leaflet.js for map rendering

  • ISS location API

  • Claude Opus 4.0 for initial build

  • OpenAI Codex for fine tuning

  • Google’s Gemini for fine tuning

  • Sometimes utility = delight — the smallest tools solve the biggest frictions.

  • Leaflet.js is great for quick interactive maps without any satellite-level headaches.

  • It doesn’t need to be “launch ready” to be ready to launch.

What I Learned

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