Space shuttle

[GROOMER]

saw it very clearly here in Wgtn. Two spacecraft travelling on exactly the same trajectory from west to south just 4 minutes ago. Quite impressive when you know what it is.

Good..it wasn't just me then!
Im just down in Tawa...was a good view huh!

[crashe]

well I have stood outside in the freezing cold looking up into the sky..
Nothing moved up there..

So it didnt come over west Auckland... very disappointing that..

[Grizz]

We just saw it in West Auckland, no1 son spotted it travelling west to south, quite low on the horizon.

Not that impressive, however still a bit of a buzz knowing what it is.

Good luck to them all

[ktee]

Yup Welly was good viewing. Looks positive for landing safe.

[Beemer]

Stood there on the deck looking for it but not sure if we saw it or not! The trouble is, we live in the country so you can see so many stars it was hard to tell if any were moving or not. And we get planes crossing overhead from south to north as well, which confused matters even more. Saw a couple of things we thought may have been it, but not 100% sure.

Never mind, standing out on the deck enjoying the peace and quiet on a very mild winter's night was a most enjoyable way to spend half an hour!

[myvice]

Did ya throw rocks at it?

[crashe]

We just saw it in West Auckland, no1 son spotted it travelling west to south, quite low on the horizon.

Not that impressive, however still a bit of a buzz knowing what it is.

Good luck to them all

Buggar I missed it... damn shuttle crew.... lol

I stood outside for all that time.... freezing....
oh well I am sure they will do it again.... in another few years.

[Virago]

Yep, like I said, not the best viewing from Orkland. Best viewing would have been North Canterbury, would have gone straight overhead.

They were orbiting at about 380km above Earth, so you can figure out that if you're over a 1000km away from the flight path you won't get a good view.

When the International Space Station goes directly overhead, it is almost as bright as Jupiter or Venus. The Space Shuttle is marginally brighter.

You can ony see them just after dusk or just before dawn, when we are in darkness but they are still in the sunlight up there.

A complete orbit takes about 90 minutes.

Orbital mechanics mean there won't be any good sightings of the ISS in Auckland for a week or so.

A good website is http://heavens-above.com/
Click on New Zealand, then search for your home town, and register as a user, and you'll get all the info you want about satellite spotting and general astronomy, personalised for your location.

[forty two]

I would guess those space people just want to get back down on the ground after all the crap going on in the last 12 days. Have to say though, I think this is all more a case of American Over Dramatising Syndrome at full noise.

[Marknz]

Did ya throw rocks at it?

Shit yea, but I think I missed.

[Bartman10]

Good viewing from the wind turbine in Wellington. See pic. The picture doesn't quite convey the exitement of actually seeing it. Wicked stuff!


I disagree with some American political leaders and corporations but I think it's awesome that they've still got a space program. Has anyone else been following the Saturn/Titan mission?

NASA have had a few problems recently but I say big ups to the individuals that continue to make it happen.

[crashe]

Well all the time I was freezing my butt off...
None of the 'stars' moved in the sky...
cos thats what I was looking for...any movement of the stars...

Nice pic.... once you click on it to enlarge it then you can see it.

[Waylander]

I heard it got scrapped until tomorrow at about 9pm our time...

[Skunk]

Here's the next few days passes of the ISS from Wellington
The best views are the ones with the smallest Mag and highest Alt at Max Altitude. (The Mag can go into negative figures)
If you click on the date you get a view of the sky if you were laying on your back.
If you then click on gound passes you get an overhead view of the ground track.