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Shuttle and Space Station Create Backyard Sky Show
By Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
posted: 05 November 2007
11:30 am ET

With the Space Shuttle Discovery having successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) early Monday morning, skywatchers across much of the United States and southern Canada are now in for a real treat on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

The appearance of either the space shuttle or the space station moving across the sky is not in itself unusual. On any clear morning within a couple of hours of local sunrise and with no optical aid, you can usually spot several orbiting Earth satellites creeping across the sky like moving stars

Weather permitting, there will be opportunities to see both the Discovery orbiter and the ISS independently flying across the sky from many locations.

The sight should easily be visible to anyone, even from brightly lit cities.

On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, both vehicles will pass across North America three times at intervals spaced at 91.6 minutes and in each case moving on southwest-to-northeast trajectories.

A telescope would be needed to make out details of the sprawling station, now orbiting at 220 miles (354 kilometers) above Earth's surface. Traveling in their respective orbits at about 17,188 mph (27,661 kilometers per hour), both should be visible on each pass for a duration of about 1 to 5 minutes.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/0711...-spotting.html