Just saw the shuttle/space station overhead

nddons

nddons

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Stan
What a day! On the 40th anniversary of moon landing, I saw the shuttle and space station overhead tonight between 10:41pm CDT and 10:44pm CDT moving from NW to overhead. Awesome!

Of course, sitting next to my dad on the couch in the unairconditioned living room on a hot July night 40 years ago watching two American heroes land on the moon was a little more special...
 
dmccormack said:
:needpics:
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I gotta go digging...

One night, I was doing a long-exposure of Leo (actually tracking the stars so they were points and not streaks), and when I got it developed (yes, back when dinosaurs walked the Earth and we had to develop film), there was this errant streak through the tail...

Went and looked it up, and it was the ISS transiting my pic!
 
JeffDG said:
I gotta go digging...

One night, I was doing a long-exposure of Leo (actually tracking the stars so they were points and not streaks), and when I got it developed (yes, back when dinosaurs walked the Earth and we had to develop film), there was this errant streak through the tail...

Went and looked it up, and it was the ISS transiting my pic!
Click to expand...

One absolutely glorious clear fall night camping along Nittany Ridge in Central Pennsylvania with my son I looked up and saw something moving very fast, and very bright.

When I got home, looked it up -- sure enough, ISS had transited overhead.
 
dmccormack said:
One absolutely glorious clear fall night camping along Nittany Ridge in Central Pennsylvania with my son I looked up and saw something moving very fast, and very bright.

When I got home, looked it up -- sure enough, ISS had transited overhead.
Click to expand...

I got my wife good one night...I said "Dear, let's go for a drive." and we headed out into the night. She had no idea where we were going or why I was so concerned about getting there on time...well, I'd found a spot for something like a Magnitude -6 Iridium Flare...got there and kinda pointed her in the right direction, checked my watch, and just waited until she saw it...yes, I'm a geek, but it was still pretty cool to see her eyes go kinda wide with this bright light in the sky!
 
one of the coolest things i ever woke up at 4AM for was a formation flyby of the ISS and Shuttle. Shuttle was landing later that day and had separated the night before. very cool
 
Mary and I can be found in the back yard looking up on clear nights when the ISS scheduled to make a visible pass.

http://www.n2yo.com/

I never get tired of watching for it. One time we saw the ISS, Shuttle, and the Jules Verne ATV all in trail. I had my telescope out, but they were moving too fast for me to track.

With the full complement of solar panel the ISS can be very bright when the sun angle is just right.

tonycondon said:
one of the coolest things i ever woke up at 4AM for was a formation flyby of the ISS and Shuttle. Shuttle was landing later that day and had separated the night before. very cool
Click to expand...
 
As a ham operator who used the OSCAR satellites in the past I am usually aware of what is passing overhead in the early evening after the sun is down (prime spotting time for LEO birds) A few years ago I became aware of the due South to North pass of a LEO sat on what became a predictable schedule (after a while)... This is an unusual orbital declination for LEO birds... Consulting my weekly ephemeris of satellite data and my computer programs I could not identify this bird...
Hmm, suspicions began to enter my mind... All LEO birds are spoze to be listed in the NASA database - the only question in my mind was, 'ours or theirs'... It happens that one of my acquaintances at the airport is a DOD surgeon... I happened to chat with him about it and he said he would ask around and see what he could find from the orbital hazards tracking team... A couple of months later I happened to bump into him at the airport and asked if he had found any information... He smiled and said the DOD guys told him to tell me that if I didn't stop "seeing things" I would need a psychiatrist...
Ummm, OK, roger that, over and out...

denny-o
 
I often get a glimpse of the ISS and sometimes the Shuttle when I'm relaxing in the hot tub. Very cool indeed.
 
DeeG said:
I often get a glimpse of the ISS and sometimes the Shuttle when I'm relaxing in the hot tub. Very cool indeed.
Click to expand...
With Leslie's love of astronomy, I think she needs to be in the hot tub with you! (Not me; I might get in trouble!:yikes::smile:)
 
Growing up 45 mins from Marshall Space Flight Center and US Space & Rocket Center had its perks. We took multiple field trips there in Elementary School. I knew I was a dork long ago - while the other kids were AMAZED at the 'astronaut ice cream' (pre dipping-dots days), I was more amazed at getting to walk through the mock-up of one of the Space Station modules. It was the mock-up they used to test layouts for stuff before actually working on the 'real' module next door.

I really want to go back down there now that I 'know' some stuff. I'm guessing they're under a bit tighter security now than they were in mid 80's.
 
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