you can see the shuttle & ISS streak across the sky very shortly.

the info for raleigh is:
time - 07:22 PM
duration - 3 minutes
max elevation - 42 deg
approach - 11 above NW
departure - 40 above ENE

should be a really good night to see it. if you're not in raleigh, go here to find out your info
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/skywatch.cgi?country=United+States

it lands tomorrow, but you'll still be able to see the ISS after it's gone.

3/8/2011 7:05:48 PM

Woah....


I still want to see a shuttle take off, my window for seeing that is quite small

3/8/2011 7:13:19 PM

yeah, you have 2 more chance then that's it. there's a launch in early april then the last is early june. i saw endeavor lift off a few years ago (that was my bday present). it's pretty awesome although i wanted to be soooooooooo much closer. i'd be in the thing if they'd let me.

3/8/2011 7:14:54 PM

April 19th is the last launch. I'm in the same boat as you, haven't ever seen one but want to.

I'm thinking about making a trip to FL to see the one in Apr.

3/8/2011 7:15:14 PM

Bah wrong month

[Edited on March 8, 2011 at 7:16 PM. Reason : damnit ]

3/8/2011 7:16:12 PM

endeavor launches april 19
atlantis launches june 28 <-- last one

schedule: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

[Edited on March 8, 2011 at 7:17 PM. Reason : ]

3/8/2011 7:16:22 PM

seeing a launch is on my bucket list

3/8/2011 7:17:45 PM

yayyyyyyyyyyy!! i waved

3/8/2011 7:27:09 PM

I mooned it... Let's not hope it was really a spy satellite

3/8/2011 7:28:03 PM

shit my bad, I missed the atlantis launch on the schedule.

3/8/2011 7:28:37 PM

i saw two taking the same path, were aliens following them?

3/8/2011 7:28:40 PM

is this shit really bright? I think I might have seen it

[YES] yes it is

Quote :

"In many cases, the station is one of the brightest naked-eye objects in the sky, although it is visible only for periods ranging from two to five minutes."

[Edited on March 8, 2011 at 7:30 PM. Reason : asdfasdfasdf]

3/8/2011 7:29:47 PM

One time flying back to either MD or MA from Florida, I saw a space ship launch while in flight. That was pretty cool.

3/8/2011 7:30:24 PM

^^^ ISS

[Edited on March 8, 2011 at 7:31 PM. Reason : .]

3/8/2011 7:30:31 PM

Just saw it with the ISS trailing. Badass!

3/8/2011 7:30:46 PM

YAAYYYY!!!!

3/8/2011 7:31:46 PM

Saw them both


I was surprised how bright they were, and how quickly they dimmed as they approached the eastern horizon.


There were people flying in those things

3/8/2011 7:37:40 PM

Quote :

"One time flying back to either MD or MA from Florida, I saw a space ship launch while in flight. That was pretty cool."

holy fuck i would pay a lot of money to see that

3/8/2011 7:38:11 PM

^ Woah that would be kick ass. Just live I've always wanted to fly to see new years or july 4th fireworks from the air

3/8/2011 7:40:24 PM

ahhhhhh why didn't i see this earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh well...tomorrow night will be cloudy

3/8/2011 7:53:35 PM

pissed I missed this



but I, too, will be making the trip to FL to see one of the remaining two launches. Thanks, Obama.

3/8/2011 8:06:17 PM

i lived in orlando in the 90's so we got to see shuttle launches from our driveway on the regular


we heard lots of sonic booms too

3/8/2011 8:12:00 PM

those shuttles are oolllldddddd. it's past time they move onto a different design. not that they have the money to do it, but something safer would be a very good idea.

3/8/2011 8:14:10 PM

Dammit I missed this too.. someone should've bumped the thread!

3/8/2011 10:25:06 PM

I mean, I'm pretty sure that june one won't be the last one of our lifetime...

3/8/2011 10:33:49 PM

They are retiring the space shuttle fleet... there will still be rockets going into space, but they won't have a space shuttle (at least the existing model) along for the ride.

3/8/2011 10:35:23 PM

Err, ok, excuse my ignorance, but does that mean humans won't be going into space anymore? I find that reaaaaaallllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy hard to believe.We need to find our new home! lol

no but really

3/8/2011 10:43:44 PM

the apollo missions were via rockets

shuttle doesnt = humans lol

3/8/2011 10:44:26 PM

Ok that's cool then

Why cancel the shuttles? unsafe? i mean, what's the deal?

3/8/2011 10:46:15 PM

I use a program called Orbitron to track these things. It's pretty freakin' awesome if you like catching ISS or HST. (actually, I just ran ISS and it's data is off of that from the NASA website. Will have to update on the problem.)

Via HSF:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_States®ion=North_Carolina&city=Fayetteville

3/8/2011 11:39:02 PM

kiwi did you seriously not know the shuttles were being retired? and that obama canceled their replacement?

3/9/2011 6:19:04 AM

Quote :

"those shuttles are oolllldddddd."

they've been completely retrofitted and redesigned multiple times. you probably think the F-15E was made in 1972 and is 'old' as well.

3/9/2011 7:32:07 AM

It's about to fly over Australia.

3/9/2011 7:50:09 AM

^^

3/9/2011 7:54:14 AM

Apparently Renee Chou thinks that the landing of the Discovery space shuttle marks the end of NASA's space mission. She just said that verbatim a few mins ago.

Good Job.

3/9/2011 8:02:37 AM

Quote :

"the apollo missions were via rockets shuttle doesnt = humans lol"

the shuttle is a rocket ... we just reuse part of it

still the only way to get into orbit for anything ...

3/9/2011 8:06:30 AM

negatron ghostrider. (or at least, incomplete ghostrider)

The Space Shuttle consists of the shuttle stack, which includes a dark orange-colored external tank (ET); two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs); and the Orbiter Vehicle (OV), which contains the crew and payload.


The SRBs are reused, of course along with the OV.

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 8:12 AM. Reason : does a fart smell in space? ]

3/9/2011 8:11:43 AM

Quote :

"they've been completely retrofitted and redesigned multiple times. you probably think the F-15E was made in 1972 and is 'old' as well."

i don't know everything about them, but i doubt they've been completely & totally rebuilt since the 80s, and everything i've heard about why they're retiring them is bc they're old. *i'm not any sort of nasa or shuttle expert. i just think they're neat. i did write a paper on the columbia disintegration for a technological catastrophes class, but it wasn't that scientific. i'm about halfway through my second book about nasa/space-related stuff. "riding rockets" by mike mullane. in the book, i'm right at the part with the return to space flight after challenger.

i have no clue what a f-15e so i have no opinion there.

Quote :

"Dammit I missed this too.. someone should've bumped the thread!"

it was at the top. i made the thread only 17 minutes before it came by.

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 8:25 AM. Reason : ]

3/9/2011 8:20:56 AM

Hey there folks, if I happen to be down at the cape for any of the next shuttle launches I'll let you guys know, I may be able to get you a lot closer to the launch pad than most people.

As your local NASA engineer I can answer questions about the space shuttle and the future of manned spaceflight. ONE of the reasons they are being retired is because they are old. They were originally designed and planned to only fly for about ~10 yrs or so... after 10 years the insides were made lighter and their lifespan was extended but they are still way past their prime. In response to what Kiwi said, they are not unsafe. Safety is in fact the number one concern of the shuttle design and maintenance crew... the shuttles have been have been retrofitted with quite a bit of modern technology so it's not like the space shuttle that just went up is the same as it was 20 years ago. At some point though, it's just necessary to have a new launch vehicle... you can only upgrade an existing vehicle so much.

In reference to Arab13's post, the space shuttle is NOT the only way to get into orbit. It is the only AMERICAN way for PEOPLE to get into orbit. The Russians currently use the Soyuz rockets/capsules to launch their cosmonauts and the Chinese have their own space program. The Soyuz family of rockets are actually the most reliable and frequently used launch vehicles in the world.

Anyone have any questions about space stuff?

3/9/2011 10:25:44 AM

can you get them to move the april launch to a monday or friday? i want to go soooooo bad, esp if you could get me closer

3/9/2011 10:55:04 AM

^^ if you can get me close I'll take off and fly down. We can put together a TWW trip. 2 condos in Clearwater available for housing and a possibly a condo in Tampa. All short drives over to the cape.

3/9/2011 10:59:43 AM

Can't make any promises. I wouldn't be going down there for work, but my brother lives in Orlando so I may be going to hang out with him and his family for a bit. Unfortunately I won't know for a while so don't make any plans around me.

3/9/2011 11:03:22 AM

okay so i have 3 days vacation left after i subtract out what i'm going to use for our trip to glacier national park in july. endeavor's launch is scheduled for 7:48pm, so i could potentially fly out that morning, then use the extra 2 days in case it gets delayed, then beg for the extra 4 hours i'd need to take friday off. what's this about condos (cost)?

i don't want to go to the last one bc everybody & their brother will be there. it was hell trying to get out the place after the launch i saw a few years ago. i can't imagine what it'd be like for the last one EVAR. i would LOVE to see it again, but closer so it looks bigger than a tiny ant in the distance.

^^google says tampa/clearwater are about 3 hours from KSC...

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 11:37 AM. Reason : ]

3/9/2011 11:27:59 AM

^family has two or three condos and a big timeshare. Condos house 4 comfortably, timeshare like 12 comfortably. If we're putting something together I need to get on it and see if I can get off. I'll call the uncle and see whats up. Getting them in the summer is usually cake though, it's the winter (they're from Michigan) that it's hard to get in.

The only cost is whatever the cleaning company charges and food. Last time cleaners was like $125. I can stay a week for like $250 down there.

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 11:38 AM. Reason : it's an easy all-highway drive and the launch is practically at night...]

3/9/2011 11:37:36 AM

that's awesome. i would definitely not mind a 3 hour or whatever drive if housing is that cheap

let me know what you can find out. i need to talk to Fumbler too. looks like it's $218 for a flight for 2 ppl.

3/9/2011 11:41:10 AM

i have never seen the shuttle launch in person and i doubt i ever will

I try to watch all of them online though.

I'm watching the discovery landing right now.

[Edited on March 9, 2011 at 11:44 AM. Reason : ]

3/9/2011 11:44:42 AM

yay! back safe & sound

farewell discovery!

3/9/2011 12:00:10 PM

ISS tonight at 7:51pm

3/9/2011 1:06:29 PM

lies. tonight is not friday

[Edited on March 12, 2011 at 6:11 PM. Reason : ]

3/12/2011 6:09:14 PM

They need to have this as a calendar feed

3/12/2011 6:43:12 PM