The largest international scientific and technological endeavor ever taken on by NASA will be visible to the naked eye Friday in Lawrence.

The International Space Station, a joint project among NASA and several other space agencies, will be visible for five minutes starting at 6:28 p.m. as it orbits from northwest to east-southeast.

Steve Mitchell, 54, of Baldwin City, plans to be watching.

“It’s a whole lot brighter than any of the planets,” he said. “It’s really scooting along at about 17,000 mph. You can’t miss it. : There’s a lot of satellites up there, but usually they are so faint you can’t see them.”

Mitchell has tracked NASA’s space missions since he watched astronauts land on the moon as a child, he said.

The space station is essentially a permanent space laboratory. This week, the Atlantis Space Shuttle delivered the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory module.

The shuttle also will be visible for three minutes Saturday evening. For details on all visible NASA sightings in Lawrence or other areas, visit www.jsc.nasa.gov/sightings/.