ISS and Atlantis

The Holonet Boards » Leaving Orbit.... » ISS and Atlantis

Graysith

posted 10-16-2002 07:30 PM

OK, tonight and tomorrow will be a great time to see the International Space Station travel overhead of NA, only over these two nights you'll also see the space shuttle Atlantis as well. It had gone up to carry a strut for structural repair of the space station, and undocked from the station this morning (Oct. 16).

You should see two dots rising from near the horizon in the NW, and traveling "up" and eastward. They will be the brightest things in the sky due to where they are in their orbit; the only brighter object would be the sun if it was up. The shuttle, while tiny, is bright because it is painted white and is more reflective.

Begin looking around 7:04 CDT, 8:05-ish EDT. They ought to be visible for nearly 6 minutes.

Loban

posted 10-16-2002 10:15 PM

Yeah, it was great... I went outside around 7:06... I saw it about a minute later, and it was gone by 7:10... I have one question, the first one seemed brighter, that was the space station... right?

Graysith

posted 10-17-2002 01:47 AM

From what I have been told, BY THOSE WHO SAW IT (clouds and rain here -- GLOOM) the bigger and brighter one was the space station, and the smaller one the Atlantis.

Smalleyjedi

posted 10-23-2002 09:55 PM

I saw it.....pretty amazing. Im assuming the brighter one would be the space station. I couldnt find it even when i looked straight at it, until like 30 seconds later i looked back and it was above a star it had been below.