Awesome pass by Shuttle/ISS

From: Greg Williams (k4hsm@knology.net)
Date: Mon May 30 2011 - 10:20:32 UTC

  • Next message: Brad Young: "ISS and Endeavour"

    Just saw the ISS and Endeavour pass over as it came into an orbital  
    sunrise, the two spacecraft about 1km apart as they were completing a  
    so-called STORRM maneuver, where the Shuttle had already undocked  
    about an hour prior, but rather than do another sep burn, they instead  
    let orbital mechanics allow Endeavour to drift back towards the ISS to  
    within 950' before the orbital mechanics once again separated them. I  
    caught them just minutes after they did their sep-3 burn to send them  
    away from one another for the final time ever.
    
    The pass was hitting orbital sunrise across the Eastern US as the pair  
    made their way towards New England. They were clearly two objects side- 
    by-side, and using binocs I could make out the ISS as the larger  
    object with a rust-colored hue, the Endeavour slightly smaller, to the  
    north of the ISS, and white.
    
    I'm gonna miss the Shuttle when it's retired. Seeing them always was  
    worth the lack of sleep. I hope my kids forgive me for making them get  
    up out of bed to experience the awesome.
    
    Greg Williams
    gregwilliams@knology.net
    k4hsm@knology.net
    
    _______________________________________________
    Seesat-l mailing list
    http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 30 2011 - 12:52:46 UTC