Space Station Spotting

[Beati Dogu]

ash73 said:

Very bright, and right overhead!

How many people onboard at the minute?

3 people currently. Soon to be joined by 2 more on 27th May if all goes well.


Another nice flypast tonight.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Monday 18th May 00:05

[magpie215]

ash73 said:

Have people had a play with the ISS docking simulator?

https://iss-sim.spacex.com/

[url]

I haven't but I have been playing around with spaceflight simulator and built my own ISS....it's quite challenging at times balancing fuel/thrust and payload....rendezvous and docking is...."interesting"

|https://thumbsnap.com/ujtMRvhR[/url]

[Eric Mc]

Looks more like a Skylab launch than an International Space Station launch.

[magpie215]

Eric Mc said:

Looks more like a Skylab launch than an International Space Station launch.

Thats actually a sat v interpretation.....under the fairing is a lunar lander.

[Eric Mc]

Skylab used a Saturn V. Under the fairing on that Saturn V was the Apollo Telescope Mount, which was attached to one end of the Skylab space station.

[anonymous-user]

ash73 said:

Have people had a play with the ISS docking simulator?

https://iss-sim.spacex.com/

Brilliant !

[MXRod]

Another great view of the 2203 transit last night , the lack of pollution makes for good sightings

[Beati Dogu]

Yes I saw it at that time too.

Got my folks to go out in their garden and see it as well. First time they'd seen it, or at least seen it and knew what it was.

[Eric Mc]

Nice pass just before 11.00 tonight. As it was making its way across the sky (west to east), a satellite crossed its path going north east to southwest.

I also spotted a fairly bright satellite tracking south west to north east at about 10.30.

It's busy up there.

[Dogsey]

Eric Mc said:

Nice pass just before 11.00 tonight. As it was making its way across the sky (west to east), a satellite crossed its path going north east to southwest.

I also spotted a fairly bright satellite tracking south west to north east at about 10.30.

It's busy up there.

I'm guessing I have darker skies than you Eric, as I saw another satellite traveling SW to NE at the same time as the NE to SW one you saw. It was quite impressive to see the pair cross just in front of the ISS.

[LeoSayer]

Dogsey said:

I'm guessing I have darker skies than you Eric, as I saw another satellite traveling SW to NE at the same time as the NE to SW one you saw. It was quite impressive to see the pair cross just in front of the ISS.

I saw that too, along with an earlier satellite crossing the path of the ISS from NW to SW about 30 seconds before the ISS arrived. No dark sky here in NE London.

[Beati Dogu]

The Japanese are sending up their HTV-9 Supply Craft to the ISS today, so there's a good chance we'll be able to see it approaching the ISS in the coming days.

The rocket will launch from Japan at 6:30 pm UK time, but the vessel take a leisurely 5 days to get there. It should berth at 1:15 pm UK time on the 25th May.

[Eric Mc]

I wonder how long it will take before it becomes visible over the UK?

[Beati Dogu]

Not sure yet, other than it'll approach the ISS on an intercept course from behind and below. They'll slowly do a series orbital changes to raise the altitude up to the 254 mile altitude of the ISS. So hopefully we'll see it shadowing the ISS before long.

The spacecraft doesn't have extending solar panels, but the body is covered in them. It's quite big: 32 foot long by 14 feet in diameter,





NASA TV are covering the launch and ISS berthing live:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

[Dogsey]

Last night's 23:45 (ish) pass.


ISS in motion by Mike Gardiner, on link.photo

[Beati Dogu]

Nice photo.

I had a look for the Japanese supply ship a little later on than that very bright pass, but no luck. It's about 40 mins behind apparently and slowly closing the distance.

Here's a lovely photo of its launch:





The ISS also dropped off a Cygnus supply ship on the 21st, but I couldn't see that either. It's due to re-enter and burn up on 29th May.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Thursday 21st May 16:13

[Beati Dogu]

It's clipping along.

Should be over again tonight at 10:53 pm

The Japanese supply ship is catching up fast. Now only about 4 minutes behind the ISS, according to meteorwatch.org

[Athlon]

Sadly it is pretty cloudy here tonight

[Beati Dogu]

Same here unfortunately. Looking a bit clearer so far today.

ISS over from 22:06 and then at 23:42

Maybe Starlink 4 at 23:09 too.

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, I spotted the HTV-9 Supply Craft too. Awesome.

It's more orangey in colour thanks to the gold foil insulation all over it.