Artificial satellites

Artificial satellites can also pass in front of, or transit, the Sun as seen from Earth, but none are large enough to cause an eclipse. At the altitude of the International Space Station, for example, an object would need to be about 3.35 km across to blot the Sun out entirely. These transits are difficult to watch, because the zone of visibility is very small. The satellite passes over the face of the Sun in about a second, typically. As with a transit of a planet, it will not get dark.[44]

Artificial satellites do play an important role in documenting solar eclipses. Images of the umbra on the Earth's surface taken from Mir and the International Space Station are among the most spectacular eclipse images in history.[45] Observations of eclipses from satellites orbiting above the Earth's atmosphere are of course not subject to weather conditions.

The direct observation of a total solar eclipse from space is rather rare. The only documented case is Gemini 12 in 1966. The partial phase of the 2006 total eclipse was visible from the International Space Station. At first, it looked as though an orbit correction in the middle of March would bring the ISS in the path of totality, but this correction was postponed.[46]