Shuttle Launch: What's next?

From: Skywayinc@aol.com
Date: Thu Mar 12 2009 - 06:08:22 UTC

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    Should the launch of Shuttle Discovery occur on Sunday, liftoff would  
    be at 7:43 p.m. EDT.  It is unfortunate that it does not come several  
    minutes sooner,
    because as it passes south of NYC about 8 minutes later it  will still be in 
    the Earth's
    shadow . . . from Discovery, the Sun would  appear about 2-degrees below
    the horizon.  If sunlight were shining on  the Orbiter and External Tank, it 
    would
    appear as a brilliant object . . . on  the order of Venus brightness!  The 
    only
    other time I can remember this  happening was in September 1991; MECO and
    the jettisoning of the orange  External Tank was accompanied by a "puff" or a 
    small
    vapor cloud.  With  binoculars, the Shuttle and tank remained visible thanks 
    to
    reflected  sunlight and you could actually see the two slowly separating in 
    binoculars as  
    they disappeared beyond the northeast horizon.
    
    If the launch were  delayed until Monday, a similar observation to 1991 would 
    be possible.
    But  the weather prospects look more favorable locally (from NY) for getting 
    a view  of the Shuttle on
    Sunday as opposed to Monday . . . at least that's how it  looks right now.
     
    Here is an article I wrote for SPACE.com detailing visiblity of the Shuttle  
    launch
    for the US East Coast:
    http://www.space.com/spacewatch/090310-space-shuttle-launch-spotting.html
     
    -- joe rao
    
    -- joe r.
     
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