STS-128 & ISS

[Tantalus]

Finally saw the Space shuttle (STS-128 DISCOVERY) fly over the UK this morning.

The night started off cloudless, but just before the first pass of the ISS at 02:48, patchy clouds rolled in and spoiled the view. I went out again at 04:19 to watch the second pass of the ISS, still some patchy cloud around and only managed a few quick glimpses of the ISS between the clouds. With less than an hour to the launch, I'd resigned myself to just watching the launch on the tv (CNN News).

About 2 minutes into the launch, I glanced outside and saw the sky had cleared, so I quickly pulled on some warm clothing, grabbed the bins, and cycled to the edge of a field just 5 minutes away where I have a good (mostly) clear horizon to the east, south and west. Got there at 05:16, but at just 25 mins before sunrise only a loose handful of the very brightest stars were still visible, along with Venus and Mars. I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to spot the shuttle.

Right on cue at around 05:18 I spotted a bright white light in the west at around 10 deg alt with a bright orange light just below it - the Shuttle and it's fuel tank! I was surprised how bright they both were, and was able to follow them with the naked eye to 40 deg alt in the south then decend towards the east. While they were still in the south-east the tank faded for a few seconds, then brightened again. They both started to fade to the naked eye at around 15 deg towards the east, so I followed their progress through bins. The tank finally faded from view below around 5 deg, but I was able to follow the shuttle a few seconds down to the horizon at 05:22:45.

As I turned to go home, the bike's front tyre was flat so I had to walk home, but I really didn't care less... I'd seen the Shuttle!

16x60 bins

Timings are UT+1

53.5N, 0.07W

[Dave]

I woke at 4:30 and got up to watch the launch on NASA TV.

I then stepped out in the garden to watch the two go past in the brightening dawn.

I have seen at least 7 of these post-launch fly-by's now, and that was the best by far.

Awesome!

[ashenlight]

Brilliant report Tantalus, you have a wonderful way of writing, I felt like I was there with you! Even though only a handful of stars were visible, seeing the Shuttle in the morning light must have been really magical. It sounds like you're very lucky living within cycling distance of a good site. Really pleased you got a decent show - with Venus and Mars too, great stuff

[Talitha]

It's so awesome that you get to see the Shuttle AND fuel tank... how long does it take for them to get there after the launch, and is the fuel tank recovered and re-used, or what?

[calibos]

We get to see it 18 minutes after launch which is pretty amazing when you think that a Commercial airliner flight to Florida would be about 7 or 8 hours or more. Its amazing the differance 17,000mph Vs 500mph can make

The Solid fuel boosters parachute down off the east coast of the US to be recovered and re-used. The main orange fuel tank which is jettisoned over the Mid Atlantic and is basically falling from then on doesn't land till its over the Pacific ocean!! And when it lands, it lands with a very big splash and a crunch So no re-using of the main fuel tank is possible

Usually we never get to see the Shuttle and fuel tank so soon after launch while it is still climbing to the ISS orbit. The mission usually has to be to the ISS for the launch trajectory to take it over us and the launch window has to have it flying over within an hour or two after our Dusk or before our dawn, otherwise the sky is too bright to see it or else its too far into the night and our whole sky is in the earths shadow, so no sunlight to light up the shuttle and tank.

In other words, generally we only get to see the shuttle on its own once it has reached orbit and thus is less bright than the ISS and traveling no faster then the ISS across our sky. Thats what makes this particular flyover so special. We get to see the tank too. We get to see it as an Orange light just below the Shuttle. We get to see both it and the bright white shuttle as bright as Jupiter, and because they are only 150-200 miles up at this point, we get to see them blaze across the sky in about 1 minute instead of the 4 or 5 it takes the ISS.

It is most unusual for us to see two consecutive like this and as far as I was aware this launch and the previous launch in July plus one launch in May 2008 were the only 3 launches visible like this in the entire history of the Shuttle programme. I feel so lucky to have observed 2 of them before the fleet is retired.

[Talitha]

Thanks for the info Calibos, i'd always wondered about the main tank. Also, i never realized that seeing the tank was such an uncommon event.. very thorough explanation, thank you. And congratulations on your sightings, well done!

(18 minutes.. wow, sure wish i could have flown there so quickly in February instead of the 9 hour flight from Chicago... my ticket cost a lot less though. )