Jack Hathaway called this “a great time to be part of the space program” from the International Space Station last week as a deep lunar eclipse moved toward Thursday night into Friday. The moon will pass through Earth’s shadow and nearly vanish, with 96% of its face covered at peak.
“This is a great time to be part of the space program, right? We’re not slowing down,” Hathaway told The. The eclipse peaks just after midnight EDT and will last 5 ½ hours overall, with the partial phase stretching more than three hours.
Americas in prime viewing
The best seat belongs to the Americas. Nearly 1 billion people in the U.S., Canada, and Central and South America will be able to see the full eclipse, while more than 3 billion people, or 44% of the world’s population, will be in position to catch at least part of it if skies are clear.
By the time the moon is setting in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, observers in Hawaii will be seeing it rise. That split is why the eclipse favors North and South America so strongly: the geometry lines up there for the full event, while other regions catch only the beginning or the end.
Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir
Jessica Meir, the space station commander, has described space as offering a “unique perspective” for viewing cosmic sights such as eclipses and auroras. Hathaway’s view from orbit puts that idea in practical terms: the eclipse is not just a skywatching event, but a shared one, crossing time zones and continents at once.
The year’s second lunar eclipse is also the fourth eclipse overall, following a total lunar eclipse over the Americas, Australia and eastern Asia in March. Eclipses travel in pairs when the sun, moon and Earth line up precisely, and this one comes two weeks after a total solar eclipse through Greenland, Iceland and Spain.
New Year’s Eve 2028
This deep partial eclipse is not a total lunar eclipse, even though the coverage is unusually high. The lineup is close but not perfect, so the moon will darken dramatically without slipping fully into Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of the shadow.
That leaves the next complete lunar blackout for New Year’s Eve 2028, with Asia and Australia at center stage then. Stargazers across North and South America will wait until 2029 for another full eclipse of the moon.
