International Space Station (ISS)

Well, I was amused last night when my son informed me I had about 2 minutes until the ISS was going to be visible at our house. I though he was just pulling my leg until he pointed it out within a few seconds of when it was supposed to be visible.
So now, the question is, what can I do to take a decent shot of the ISS. I was using my T3i on my 70-200 to get the max crop, but it does not handle ISO as well as my 6D. My Tamron 150-600 get delivered tonight, so I am hoping to catch the ISS during tomorrows pass over.
We are talking about an object traveling at many thousands of miles an hour. I can comfortably push my ISO on the 6D to get 25K or eve 50K ISO if needed. But I am looking to those of you here who might be involved in tracked photography for a bare minimum shutter speed for a shot like this. I will be hand shooting since it moves pretty darn quick in the sky, I can't imagine trying to track on a tripod (maybe a monopod).
I just want to see how successful I can be on this shot.

You looking for the ISS trail of you want to actually get a shot of the ISS? The trail is easy, anything will do but to get a image of the ISS where you can make out what it is I'm guessing that the higher the ISO, the faster the shutter so the clearer the picture.

Here's what I managed with the 1D Mark IV and 500L + 1.4 TC (700mm) Hand Held. Still a hard crop. You might try using a truck or van to support you elbows if the weight becomes an issue. Pre focus on a bright star using center point AF before the ISS comes into view.

ISO 800 • f/5.6 • 1/800th sec.

One of the best things that you can do beforehand is to make sure you know when it's going to be a good time to shoot it. Not everyday is the same, some days it's closer to the horizon, and others it can be 'almost' overhead. That is when you want to shoot it, when it it closest to you, meaning, almost overhead. :]

There is a site that will e-mail a day beforehand so you will know for sure when you can get a good shot.
If it's around 84 degrees (for instance) in the sky, jump on that, you will almost believe that it's a helicopter instead of the ISS, it looks that close. If it's 56 degrees or some low degrees from the horizon, don't even bother.

The very first time I saw the ISS it was probably close to 85 degrees or thereabouts, it was about 5:30am and I just happened to look up and see it, I had NO IDEA at all what it was, I looked it up and learned that it was the ISS, then I found the site below and have tracked it (when I can) every since. Of course, dark skies help a lot like anything else 'up there', but it still can be done.
There is a guy here that lives in the tropics, (I forgot where) and he took one that you could see the details on the thing, wings, etc., it was amazing! Of course, the skies were super dark, and he knows what he's doing too. :]

Read about all of this on their site, it's very interesting, to say the least.

Good luck!

http://spotthestation.​nasa.gov/

Randy