Discovery is scheduled to un-dock from ISS early on 2005 Aug 6. I do not have the precise time of un-docking, but NASA has published the time of its two separation burns, and the resulting orbital elements. They are on this web page (for shuttle hit the red icon; for ISS, hit the green one): http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/elements/index.html Observers south of about 35 N will have morning visibility, world-wide. I have extracted and appended the key elsets for those who wish to evaluate their prospects to observe the spacecraft in close proximity to one another. Here is some additional information for U.S. observers: On August 6, there will be good to excellent passes in parts of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The spacecraft will be less 10 km apart on the passes of 09:15 UTC and 10:50 UTC; and about 25 km apart on the 12:21 UTC pass. Typical angular separation at culmination will be 0.5 to 2 deg. On August 7, there will be good to excellent passes in parts of Florida, Oklahoma and Texas. The spacecraft will be about 250 km apart, or about one half minute of flight time. I cannot guarantee that the above list is comprehensive, so those keen to observe should check for passes using the appended elements. Alternatively, since ISS is not expected to manoeuvre, you can simply run predictions using its current elements, using your preferred software or service. Discovery will lead by the distances noted above. Ted Molczan Predicted orbital elements issued by NASA on 2005 Aug 02 UTC: 1. 2005 Aug 06 08:37 - 09:05 UTC (period between separation burn #1 and burn #2) Discovery 1 28775U 05026A 05218.38129593 .00016071 00000-0 12697-3 0 9058 2 28775 51.6422 3.8953 0002052 210.2609 149.8434 15.71569086 1718 ISS 1 25544U 98067A 05218.82641230 .00016071 00000-0 12697-3 0 9052 2 25544 51.6442 1.6190 0001724 222.5237 137.5792 15.71528538 23653 2. 2005 Aug 06, 09:05 UTC - Aug 07, 09:07 UTC (after separation burn #2) Discovery 1 28775U 05026A 05218.38129630 .00016071 00000-0 12697-3 0 9061 2 28775 51.6420 3.8941 0004191 185.9500 174.1614 15.72122682 1716 ISS 1 25544U 98067A 05218.82641230 .00016071 00000-0 12697-3 0 9052 2 25544 51.6442 1.6190 0001724 222.5237 137.5792 15.71528538 23653 3. 2005 Aug 07, 09:07 UTC to Discovery's de-orbit on Aug 08 Discovery 1 28775U 05026A 05219.39833521 .00016071 00000-0 12697-3 0 9075 2 28775 51.6417 358.6857 0004176 187.5944 172.5155 15.72144135 1878 ISS 1 25544U 98067A 05219.78022647 .00016071 00000-0 12697-3 0 9064 2 25544 51.6450 356.7386 0001851 227.5791 132.5214 15.71555299 23809 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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