Space Shuttle over Singapore

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Thu May 14, 2009 8:40 pm

I just watched the Space Shuttle Atlantis glide through the sky at 7.55pm just now, for about 3 minutes. It moved from the SW to the SE, at about 25-30 degrees above the horizon.

As the Hubble Space Telescope is now also docked vertically in its payload bay, it means that it is 2 objects for the price of 1 viewing!

I estimate its brightness at about magnitude 2. Definitely a lot dimmer than the ISS. Through 15x50 IS binoculars, I could make out an irregular shape, though a lot smaller than the ISS which I saw a few days ago.

Live coverage of the Hubble servicing mission can be seen here:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

That "space talk" betwen mission control and the shuttle sounds so... well, so much like NASA missions.

The Space Shuttle / HST will be visible over the Singapore region every day over the next few days. From the 15th to the 18th, it will be at greater than 40 degrees above the horizon once a day. Catch it now!

Details on heavens-above.com:
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummar ... 1&tz=MALST

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Thu May 14, 2009 9:08 pm

Hey i am now watching live coverage of both the astronauts emerging out of the Space Shuttle to service the HST, as well as the imminent launch of the French Ariane rocket carrying the Herschel and Plank space telescopes:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/herschelplanck/index.html

Two space missions simultaneously!