ISS w/Shuttle attached to make bright evening passes over parts of US today & next few days

several sources | several authors

[ETL]

ISS = International Space Station

To see if the pair will in fact pass and be visible over your particular location,
schedules and other important information are available from the website just below (heavens-above.com):
http://www.heavens-above.com/

NASA-International Space Station (official website):
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/

Important note for first time Space Station observers:
Unless the Station is scheduled to pass 20 or more (depending on your viewing location--obstructions, etc) degrees above the horizon, you may not see it at all. But if the pass IS high enough above your local horizon, it will 'look' like a very bright white star, w/ no blinking or colored lights whatsoever, moving at a steady rate of speed (about the apparent rate of a high-flying airplane) In reality, the ISS is actually travelling about 4-1/2 miles per second). Also, it will NOT be visible right at the time the schedule indicates it will first appear or 'start', so give it a minute or so. Finally, they list the "magnitude". This is simply the brightness of the pass. Due to some old rules which were never updated, the LOWER the number for magnitude, the BRIGHTER an object is. ie, negative magnitudes are very bright. When Venus is at her spectacular brightest, she's about a mag minus 4.7 --ETL.

Here is a link to an animated cloud map for the U.S. from the Weather Channel website, because if it's too cloudy you won't of course see anything:
http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/satelliteusnational/index_large_animated.html

[ETL]

"The International Space Station (ISS) is a research facility currently being assembled in space.
The on-orbit assembly of ISS began in 1998. The space station is in a low Earth orbit and can be seen from Earth with the naked eye:
it has an altitude of approximately 350 km (217 mi)[1] above the surface of the Earth, and travels at an average speed of 27,700 km
(17,210 statute miles) per hour [roughly 4.5 miles per second!], completing 15.77 orbits per day."[it takes the ISS about 90 min to go once around the Earth]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station

How big is the International Space Station?
"The complete ISS will be over 100meters [~300 feet] long and more than 70meters [~210 feet] wide.
For comparison, the space shuttles are about 38meters [~100 feet] long.
A shuttle would stretch from home plate to second base on a baseball diamond
and the Space Station would reach from home plate all the way to the outfield walls.
The inside of the Station, when complete, will have a volume roughly equal to that of three jumbo jets.
The Space Station pieces will be launched into orbit over the course of more than 40 missions,
during which they will be assembled like a giant LEGO space project."
http://www.canadainspace.ca/spacefacts_fact.php?item[0]=fact&item[1]=lesson&sectionName=facts&sectionID=1&topicID=-1&topicIdentifier=-1&topicAbbreviation=spaceStn&ID=139&factNumber=7&factNo=8&nextID=138

"I took these pictures during the early morning hours of May 12th using a 5-inch refractor." says amateur astronomer Dirk Ewers of Hofgeismar, Germany.
For five minutes, he tracked the ISS across the sky and his *MOVIE* of the entire 75 [degree] transit is a must see!"

[BallyBill]

If it gets any bigger I'll be able to see the shadow in the afternoon.

[ETL]

It can be seen during twilight, depending on various factors, such as how high it is above your local horizon. Usually, the higher it is above the horizon, the brighter it is.

[advertising guy]

self ping for later

[FL_Native]

http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

I use this website to find sighting opportunities, just pick “go to country” on the left and you can select your state and the city you’re in or near.

[Names Ash Housewares]

Four spacecraft docked to ISS at the same time is also interesting.
Two Soyuz, the ESA Jules Verne, and Discovery.