See the Shuttle and Space Station tonight
Published on Feb 18, 2008 at 11:15 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under space shuttle, space station.
Last night, I went out to watch the USA-193 satellite pass by. I was using the prediction from Heavens-Above. It seemed just a little late, and more nearly overhead than the prediction had indicated. Heavens-Above’s predictions are generally right on target. So, it could be that the satellite had been dragging a bit in the atmosphere, and that might explain why it seemed late. Alternately, my timepiece may have been slightly off, but normally I keep it pretty accurate.
However, tonight, there is another interesting opportunity to observe something go across the heavens. The Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station this morning. Atlantis has moved away from the space station a bit, but it remains in a very similar orbit. As it turns out, the space station (and thus the shuttle) will be passing over much of the US tonight. I plan to go out and see the two of them pass by.
The Atlantis carried the European Space Agency’s Columbus space station laboratory module to the ISS. For a day or two before or after docking with the ISS, you can see both the shuttle and the space station passing by, if you are in the right spot. First one will go by, and then the other. I’ve seen this a number of times in the past, and it is interesting to watch. Tonight, the space station will pass by visible from where I live in Texas, being highest in the sky towards the northeast at about 6:22 pm, as seen in this groundtrack.
If you want to know whether or not you’ll be able to see the two craft tonight, check out Heavens-Above. You don’t need to be in Texas, or even the United States to see them. Not everyone will get the chance to see the two, but if you are one of the ones in a place where they can be seen, then go out and take a look.
NASA plans for Atlantis to land Wednesday afternoon, on orbit number 202. If everything goes according to plans, then observers in part of Central America and eastern Cuba may seen the shuttle reenter the atmosphere. The groundtrack for the landing is shown below:
If weather is poor at that time, but improving, the shuttle might land on the next orbit. Then, it would come in over Mexico.
-Astroprof
ISS image and landing groundtrack, courtesy of NASA
ISS groundtrack, courtesy Heavens-Above
CCPhysicist on February 19, 2008 at 7:31 pm: 1
Thanks for posting this. We got a great look at the ISS with the shuttle leading it by about 10 degrees or so. Awesome.
R. Loeppky on June 2, 2008 at 8:07 am: 2
On June 1, 2008 Heavens Above had predicted STS-124 and ISS to be about 14 seconds apart and both would be inside the Big Dipper with STS coming first. As it turned out STS was trailing by at least a minute. Why was this prediction off that much?
Astroprof on June 2, 2008 at 2:42 pm: 3
Hmm. I am not sure off the top of my head. However, the Shuttle moves around some. Whenever it fires its thrusters, its orbit changes. If it did so after Heavens Above had already published their calculations, or if they were using orbital data from before the thrusters fired, then the calculations could be off. But, that is just a guess as to why the difference.