I and a neighbor watched the Discovery returning to Earth as it passed high overhead Burbank, Calif. to land at Edwards AFB, Calif. at about 5:12 AM PDT. Unlike a normal orbiting pass where I would know exact azimuth and elevation by consulting Heavens-Above or running STS Plus, in this case, I was uncertain just how high in the sky it would be. I wasn't even certain that we would see anything as I thought it might be in the earth's shadow. But I'd look anyhow and maybe we'd see something and/or hear the sonic boom. Well, I'm glad we did! We had been looking towards the northwest guadrant thinking it would go across there. Instead, I noticed a very bright object in the southwest at about 45 degrees elev. moving northeasterly. At first, believing that it might be some other bright satellite which just showed up by coincidence, that thought evaporated after a few seconds and I knew it had to be Discovery. I watched it with binoculars but could not make out any detail, just a very bright object. As it passed nearly directly overhead (perhaps 75 degrees), we were jolted by the very distinct and loud double sonic boom. I'm sure it awakened many people from their blissful slumber. Certainly, many others were aware of what it was since several local TV channels were covering the landing on their normal 5AM local news programs as well as CNN, etc. We watched it as it continued north-northeasterly gradually diminishing in brightness, going into the earth's shadow. I could still see it very low in the NNW until the view was obstructed by a tree. Then I watched the landing replays and my TV recording of this historical landing. Jake Rees ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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