DOUBLE FLYBY ALERT: Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Wednesday morning, June 11th, at 7:42 am EDT. This means many sky watchers will be able to see the two spaceships flying in tandem, separate but closely-spaced points of light, gliding among the stars on Wednesday night.
9:35pm tonight
8:46pm on Friday evening.
Kids really love seeing these fly overhead…me too!
Date Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
06/11 Genesis 2 03:24:09 am NNW 03:28:23 33.4 4.5
06/11 ISS-Discovery 09:35:52 pm WNW 09:38:20 25.4 -0.9
06/13 ISS-Discovery 08:44:57 pm WNW 08:46:58 27.5 -1.1
Robert M. Kelso
Manager, Commercial Space Development
Commercial Crew & Cargo Program
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
NASA-Johnson Space Center, Mail Code QA
It was rather awesome to sit on our rooftop deck in the dark and watch the two objects rapidly cross the sky from northwest to southeast. Two bright, shiny dots, one chasing the other. Look, a flash of light as the sun hits the ISS just so! And there are people on board both of those tiny dots. Living. Breathing.
Here's the STS-124 crew:
There are few things like the stars and the heavens to instill a sense of awe and wonder in us feeble humans. I dream of all the possibilities that await us in space, the search for life and knowledge, the drama, the thrill of exploration. And then I'm reminded of our Cretin-In-Chief, George W. Bush. Bummer.
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