Thanks @tomnewsom! Went outside last night and saw the ISS go overhead - pretty cool.
SpaceX rockets & launches
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It’s so bright isn’t it? And the way it goes so much faster overhead than when it’s scooting along the horizon. You get a much better impression of that fact that it’s a football-pitch-sized vehicle moving at 17,000mph, 200 miles above your head.
Saturday’s launch should actually be an even better viewing opportunity. The launch window moves earlier by 20m every day, and the closer it is to local sunset, the longer it will be visible before going into shadow. It’s the timing that’s critical - nearly all ISS missions overfly us, but they have to be in the narrow time slot where it’s dark on the ground but still daylight up there. This slot is longer in the summer, so we really are in the best circumstances to see this.
Fingers crossed for clear skies!
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Where would you suggest the best place to view this would be? Obviously need unobstructed views to the west. Any ideas?
It’s not too important. Everything will be bright enough to cut through London’s light pollution so long as you’re not standing directly under a street light. Just be sure to have an unobstructed view to the West and South; the maximum elevation will be ~25° above South, where it will pass into shadow.
Local places with good Southwest-facing views include the top of Streatham Common and the main hill in Brockwell Park
The weather’s still not looking great at the cape, so it might be another no-show.
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Nice one. Hope the weather here and there is good on Saturday night. Would love to take the little’un out to see a real life rocket going into orbit. Ideally will watch the launch live on t’internet and then try to spot it in the sky afterwards. Fingers crossed!
The ISS going over about an hour earlier will be a sure thing, mind! 21:50 directly from West to East over your head. It’s unmistakeable.
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So it’s set. ISS. Stream the launch and then wait for the rocket. Sounds like a plan (weather dependent). Silly question, but what would we be looking for, rocket-wise? A fast moving dot of light?
Yes. The ISS is far brighter than any star and almost appears to have shape to the naked eye. Only Venus, the Moon and the Sun are brighter. The apparent speed varies depending on how high in the sky (and therefore how close) it is, but a bit faster than a high-altitude plane.
Dragon will be a lot dimmer, about as bright as Megrez in Ursa Major
Still totally visible in London on a clear night.
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Clear skies tonight, which means we should be able to see a rare treat: 3 spacecraft at once. The Cygnus cargo carrier has just departed the station, while the Dragon is on approach. I can’t predict the exact timing or fomation - they might be tightly bunched or they might follow each other. But the ISS itself will be doing this:
From 22:33 tonight
Ah! There’s goes one of dragon or Cygnus, I dont know which…
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Watched ISS on Saturday night. About 20 minutes later saw another fairly bright object, slightly to the west with a lower arc in the sky – like to think it was Dragon, but was brighter than expected. Am in Norfolk though, with very little light pollution.
Next launch is CRS12, it’s at 18:56 UK time on the 13th Aug. Would anyone be interested if I put it up on the TV on the space TV screen of watching it with some snacks?
Final dragon launch with a brand new dragon 1- only dragon 2 and reused dragon pressure vessels from now on.
Also may make a papercraft rocket along with the launch, have made these models before and they look fantastic, a communal one may be fun to hang from top of the space. If we were feeling very fancy we could even laser cut out the pieces
http://axmpaperspacescalemodels.com/index.php/falcon-9/product/Dragon%20CRS-11/?
Oh not much right now.
At half six today though…
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How’s that uncrewed mission to mars coming along?
Falcon Heavy will be live here:
Launch at 18:30 although be prepared for disappointment. They will scrub if they find anything off-nominal.
1 hour 46 minutes and 15 seconds and counting down
They’re going to have a go for a 20:45 launch, but will scrub if the high level winds don’t die down
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10min to go and all on track. Buzzing!
Haha, they’ve put a Tesla in it. Of course they have.
And by the sounds of it, that’ll (technically) make it the fastest mass produced vehicle ever …
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Wow!