Discovery flyover

[starguy67966]

21:42 PDT--saw Discovery fly over Portland, OR passing west to east and putting on quite a show with the moon and Jupiter along with fireworks...wow, really made the night complete. Good night to the crew of STS-121 and Godspeed. Looking forward to your safe return.

 

[edkyle98]

She (and ISS) fly over the Chicago area tonight at about 8:55 pm to 9 pm CDT, roughly, northwest to southeast. Chicago has clear skies, so heads up!!<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle

 

[CalliArcale]

Hey, how come you guys get viewings but Heavens Above lists diddly squat for Minneapolis during this mission? No fair! <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[viper101]

CalliArcale - Same boat up here in Canada. No sightings at all for the next few weeks. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

According to Skywatch, and to which you could set your watch to, Shuttle/ISS is visable 4 times over Canberra. Unfortunately there all early morning sightings . <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

<font color="yellow"><br />Hey, how come you guys get viewings but Heavens Above lists diddly squat for Minneapolis during this mission? No fair!</font><br /><br />Same here... I've been hoping that the changes in orbit as a result of rendezvous maneuvers might bring her into view.<br />I did get to see Station a few days ago though, hadn't checked on any predictor websites but just happened to be looking up as it came over the horizon. Quite lucky!

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">CalliArcale - Same boat up here in Canada. No sightings at all for the next few weeks.</font>/i><br /><br />ISS flew over Northern California on July 4th right during the local fireworks. (I was a couple of miles away from town with a great open sky view!) I wonder how many people saw ISS and never knew what it was?</i>

 

[lampblack]

Hey... I printed out the relevant charts from Heavens Above -- and went out tonight (July 5th) looking for ISS and the shuttle. An in-town sky and trees on the northern horizon conspired to prevent us from seeing either -- so we'll try again tomorrow with a darker sky and a clearer horizon.<br /><br />But the experience prompts a question: the chart has the shuttle appearing about three minutes (give or take) in advance of the space station. This confused me somewhat, as all the reports speak of the shuttle as "chasing" the station.<br /><br />Can anyone offer any insight? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[vogon13]

I saw Discovery last night, it was only 14 degrees above the horizon, but still an interesting sight.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

It was night ,I was sleeping ,I never knew .IST was not known.I am distinguished that way.

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>But the experience prompts a question: the chart has the shuttle appearing about three minutes (give or take) in advance of the space station. This confused me somewhat, as all the reports speak of the shuttle as "chasing" the station. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />The problem is that we all think in two-dimensional terms, which makes it difficult to intuitively grasp orbital mechanics. It is chasing the station. It is somewhat below it, and thus orbiting the Earth a little more quickly. It is gradually approaching the slightly-higher-energy orbit of the ISS in preparation for rendezvous and docking. So it really is chasing it in terms of energy, not position. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[radarredux]

FYI: For those interested in finding when ISS or the Shuttle will be visible over their area, go to the web site:<br /><br />http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html<br /><br />You can use the Skywatch java applet or the regular HTML pages (On the left, select the country and then click "Go To Country" button). While the Java applet is more powerful, I actually prefer the HTML pages.

 

[edkyle98]

"the chart has the shuttle appearing about three minutes (give or take) in advance of the space station. This confused me somewhat, as all the reports speak of the shuttle as "chasing" the station. "<br /><br />I'm not sure how often Heavens Above updates its orbital elements, but the STS-121 data was off a bit on July 5. That is to be expected since the shuttle performs a series of maneuvers during its approach to ISS. ISS, on the other hand, was right on schedule, showing up over Northern Illinois at about 9 pm. Discovery followed about five minutes later, and was moving perceptably faster in its lower orbit. There was still some light in the sky, and a half Moon, so this wasn't the best view I've had of a station/shuttle pair, but I'll take any shuttle sighting these days, especially considering that there are only 15-16 or so more to go - and that CEV probably won't be as visible as shuttle from the ground.<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle<br /><br />

 

[CalliArcale]

I always use the ISS data for predicting Shuttle flybys. It's more accurate. Alas, there are no predicted ISS viewings in the next couple of weeks. It's evidently only overflying Minnesota during the day. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

CaLV should be visible though! I heard somewhere that the Apollo TLI burns could be seen from Earth with the naked eye, anbody know if this is true? I have my doubts, wouldn't have thought that hydrogen-oxygen rocket exhaust would be very visible at that kind of altitude.

 

[lampblack]

<font color="yellow">The problem is that we all think in two-dimensional terms, which makes it difficult to intuitively grasp orbital mechanics. It is chasing the station. It is somewhat below it, and thus orbiting the Earth a little more quickly. It is gradually approaching the slightly-higher-energy orbit of the ISS in preparation for rendezvous and docking. So it really is chasing it in terms of energy, not position.</font><br /><br />Thanks. It's always a surprise (and a pleasure) to learn something new. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[edkyle98]

"CaLV should be visible though! I heard somewhere that the Apollo TLI burns could be seen from Earth with the naked eye, anbody know if this is true? I have my doubts, wouldn't have thought that hydrogen-oxygen rocket exhaust would be very visible at that kind of altitude."<br /><br />Yes, the Earth Departure Stage with LSAM should be visible, but probably only at lower latitudes (Cape Canaveral and south). The only reason I get to see ISS and shuttle where I live is that Baikonur is north of Chicago! <br /><br />The TLI burn/venting was visible, but only to those in the South Pacific equatorial region beneath the flight path. The post-burn venting might have been visible to Hawaii, etc.<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

How about if a lamp, maybe like an aircraft strobe was fitted to the earth facing side of the ISS, would this be visable at night?<br /><br />If so, any good reason why it wouldn't be installed? Surely those strobes are not too juice hungry. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>