STS water dump prediction (New Zealand only)

3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL
Thu, 14 Aug 97 15:06:23 PDT

The next shuttle water dump is scheduled for MET 7d 15h 50m, (15 Aug,
06:31 UTC).  The orbiter will be in daylight over Italy.  Approximately
40 minutes later from 07:11 to 07:14 UTC, observers in New Zealand might
be able to see the water cloud during an evening pass, although the
gibbous moon may make viewing the cloud difficult.

For technical details on how a water dump is performed:
 http://shuttle.nasa.gov/reference/shutref/orbiter/eclss/wastewater.html

Observations of some shuttle water dumps can be found at:
 http://www.satellite.eu.org/h2o_dump.html
 http://www2.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/sat/h2o_dump.html (alternate)

More observations are discussed at:
 http://shuttle.nasa.gov/sts-78/crew/questions/ques51.html
 http://shuttle.nasa.gov/sts-80/askmcc/answers/11_30_04_59_02.html

 The last two URL's answered a few questions I had;  A full water
 dump can take almost a full orbit to accomplish, and the 'mist'
 will usually be seen leading the shuttle in orbit.


 Craig Cholar    3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL
 Marina, California
 36 41 10.3N,  121 48 17.9W    (36.6862, -121.8050)      UTC -7