The International Space Station is 260 miles (420 km) above the planet in a low earth orbit. It takes 90 minutes for the ISS to complete one orbit around the earth. During that time it passes into the dark side of the earth for 1/2 the time. During the dark period, you'll be able to view lightning storms and the light from towns and cities. Regularly, the ISS will stop transmitting due to a connection loss but will come back up automatically once it establishes the connection again. The picture will switch to archived video when the connection is lost.