Space Shuttle Watch Friday 29th

Sponge Bob

Great chance to see the space shuttle ( and tank) on Friday around 9PM and the shuttle again around 10.20pm ( the Tank ...maybe..this time but it will be a good bit behind the shuttle the second time so ya gotta hang around maybe another 10-15 minutes to see. The Tank is a fast moving orange coloured object)

The Space shuttle will be launched towards the space station on friday 29th, the space station itself will wander past Galway around 21:30 hours and should appear over Clare around that time.

The shuttle is due for launch around 8.45pm and will appear over Galway some 17-18 minutes after liftoff. You will be looking for a white object flying west to east around 9pm and an orange object following which is the big tank...jettisoned over the atlantic.

I will update this thread on friday to allow for any delays in the countdown/cloud cover in Galway etc. If you wanna keep up to date in the interim there is a Mission thread for STS-134 in the Astronomy forum.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=267

Anybody who remembers the July 2009 flyby will be out looking and thats for sure

zero19

Thanks OP I usually miss these kinda things

Sponge Bob

The shuttle and tank will take off and after 17-18 minutes they are visible from Ireland if the space station is orbiting over Ireland at the time...which it is....and if the sun has set.

Around 80 minutes later at maybe 10:20 or later the pair of them come over again. It will be much darker by then and perhaps easier to make them out although the tank should be a fair bit behind the shuttle on the second orbit.

Later in the second orbit the tank does a nosedive into the south pacific ...never to be seen again.

As the shuttle and tank are due just after sunset it may be that they will only become visible towards the end of their first pass ...ie to the south east in the darker part of the sky.

The sky transit will take around 4 minutes so if the launch is at 8:47 PM the shuttle will be transiting the sky to our south between 9:03 and 9:08pm . Anyway check in here friday.

I (or some other kindly person) will post the first message around 8pm after I check the T-Minus status on the NASA website to see if there are any delays. A 45 minute delay with launch at 9:30 PM would be just perfect for us Galwegians

If the countdown incurs 2.5 hours worth of delays and launches at 11:15 PM it will probably not be possible to see the shuttle and tank because the sun will be too far west around the earth to illuminate them in the sky above us although you may see them to the south west above the Aran Islands and then they will disappear pronto.

ger vallely

Yaay,great information. Looking forward to that. Thanks.

Bruckey2345

Looking forward to it , it should be good.

I remember the 2009 launch - it was great - I will be watching this.

Sponge Bob

Won't be as easy to see as the 2009 launch. It looks like it will be bright on friday. Get those binoculars ready over the next few days, no point looking for them at the last minute.

The countdown is on schedule. I suspect the best viewing opportunity may be at 10:20-10:40 hours on Friday night rather than just after 9pm.

For now bookmark the live tracker link from NASA. Inconveniently it shows completly wrong times..ie Heuston and Moscow.

The applicable times are EST ( cap canaveral time) and BST which is UTC + 1 hour or Irish time.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html

xtradel

I'll be down in Youghal....will it still be visible there?

Sponge Bob

xtradel wrote: »

I'll be down in Youghal....will it still be visible there?

Absolutely. The further south you go the higher in the sky it will be that is all. When we see the shuttle or space station in Galway it is actually passing south of Ireland at all times. On its most northerly transit it is almost directly over Cork and Kerry but never comes further north.

Only caveat is that more cloud is expected the further south you go tommorrow.

Storm 10

Saw the space station last night it was very bright and moving fast, where should I look with the binoculars to try to see the shuttle tomorrow night, I presume you might see something with the naked eye as it wont be too high.

renmorescout

Hiya, We have a hundred or so scouts, camping in Boyle. co. Roscommon, this weekend. Any advice as to what time, and direction to look. It might keep their attention for a few minutes!!! Many thanks.

Storm 10

renmorescout wrote: »

Hiya, We have a hundred or so scouts, camping in Boyle. co. Roscommon, this weekend. Any advice as to what time, and direction to look. It might keep their attention for a few minutes!!! Many thanks.

Check this forum in the space section scroll around it will give you times etc.

Link: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055884557&page=22

Sponge Bob

renmorescout wrote: »

Hiya, We have a hundred or so scouts, camping in Boyle. co. Roscommon, this weekend. Any advice as to what time, and direction to look. It might keep their attention for a few minutes!!! Many thanks.

Shuttle and Tank Friday at around 9pm ( launch countdown permitting) and 10:20 - 10:40 again.

Space station 9:30 -9.37 Friday.

Look south / southwest They are obvious, they are very white objects moving smartly from west to east across the sky when they show up.

On Saturday the space station and shuttle will be not close to docking.

Space Station Passes on saturday are not optimal for viewing, you may see it low in the sky between 21:55 and 22:00 to the SSW and the shuttle will not be close...it would be either 40-45 minutes ahead of or behind the space station and in the same part of the sky as it trie sto catch up.

Trivia Questions for the bored ones seeing as ye are in Roscommon.

Name The Famous Roscommon Man Whose Flute is Aboard the Space Station as it flies past

SteveSilverhead

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Shuttle and Tank Friday at around 9pm ( launch countdown permitting) and 10:20 - 10:40 again.

Space station 9:30 -9.37 Friday.

....

Trivia Questions for the bored ones seeing as ye are in Roscommon.

Name The Famous Roscommon Man Whose Flute is Aboard the Space Station as it flies past

That would be..

Matt Molloy. See http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/1215/1224285581413.html.

.

Thanks for posting the info! Hope to get to see it later.

renmorescout

Many thanks for all your help!

Storm 10

Space station tonight also at 9.31 pm in view for 4 minutes coming from West Tracking South East.
Anyone know when the Shuttle links up with the station.

Sponge Bob

Storm 10 wrote: »

Space station tonight also at 9.31 pm in view for 4 minutes coming from West Tracking South East.
Anyone know when the Shuttle links up with the station.

Monday, they will be quite close on sunday night but as the station will be very low in the sky so will the shuttle. The station is due to pass by on sunday night, very low down SSW, between 22:29 and 22:33

The live shuttle tracking should work by saturday as it chases the station down and we may get an opportunity to see it close to the station on sunday night or quite a distance ahead/behind on saturday night. I will update on saturday once the data is available.

Sponge Bob

SteveSilverhead wrote: »

That would be..

You can see the flute here :cool:

In Use That is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpfe6NKckDE

ttoppcat

Looking forward to this evening. Going to keep my 8year old up to watch it too so hopefully we'll see something!

Its going from south east to south west isnt it? My house is up in Mincloon looking over the bay to Clare so I should see it coming from left to right across the sky right? My sense of direction is not the best:o

No the other way -from SW to SE ie from Florida across the Atlantic and then across Europe.

Storm 10

ttoppcat wrote: »

Looking forward to this evening. Going to keep my 8year old up to watch it too so hopefully we'll see something!

Its going from south east to south west isnt it? My house is up in Mincloon looking over the bay to Clare so I should see it coming from left to right across the sky right? My sense of direction is not the best:o

Nope its coming from the South and going South East , Sponge bob will know more but I heard Leo Enright on radio news saying this at 1pm. The space station will follow at 9.30 pm from the West going South East

SteveSilverhead

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You can see the flute here :cool:

In Use That is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpfe6NKckDE

Yes, the one in the pic in the original news article on the Times was clearly not the flute in question. That one looks more like it!

Thanks again..

Sponge Bob

OK. Assuming it blasts off on time we will only get a sighting VERY low in the sky WSW to SSW at 10:38 PM according to NASA. the tank will be along shortly afterwards..maybe 10-15 minutes. Not looking too good

This is a very short window as it crosses the sky between the Aran Islands and Clare.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=Ireland&region=None&city=Galway


[SIZE=-1]LOCAL[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]DURATION[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]MAX ELEV[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]APPROACH[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]DEPARTURE[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]DATE/TIME[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1](MIN)[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1](DEG)[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1](DEG-DIR)[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1](DEG-DIR)[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]Fri Apr 29/10:37 PM[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]1[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]14[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]10 above WSW[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]14 above SSW[/SIZE]

It will be even lower in the Sky on Saturday pass [SIZE=-1]Sat Apr 30/10:21 PM[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]However these predictions are subject to change depending on the precise launch time. The weather at some of the 3 ABORT Sites ( Istres in France Moron(Seville) and Zaragoza in Spain) is giving cause for some concern right now but not in Cape Canaveral it seems.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/fdf/134ascent.html

joeKel73

Clicked into NASA TV there and just happened to hear the announcement that there's some problem with "APU heaters" and they'll be putting off the launch for at least 48hours.

Sponge Bob

If the shuttle does not launch today then they will retry on Each of Saturday Sunday Monday and Tuesday .

Here are the launch windows in Irish Time and THEN Add 17-18 mins to these for time to cross the atlantic.

All the launch windows apart from todays will occur while the sun is up in Ireland. We cannot see it until the sun is down.

NOW IN CASE I SPEND THE REST OF THE WEEKEND RACING HOOKERS in Salthill!

Add 17 - 18 minutes to the launch time like I said. and add 85-95 Minutes for the NEXT orbit and then look for it again to the SSW

DATE.......WINDOW OPEN...IN PLANE......WINDOW CLOSE..DOCKING

F 04/29/11...08:42:52 PM...08:47:52 PM...08:52:52 PM...Flight Day 3

Sa 04/30/11...08:17:10 PM...08:22:10 PM...08:27:10 PM...FD 3
.......................................08:30:24 PM...FD 4

Su 05/01/11...07:54:38 PM...07:59:38 PM...08:04:38 PM...FD 3

Mo 05/02/11...07:28:56 PM...07:33:56 PM...07:38:56 PM...FD 3
.......................................07:42:10 PM...FD 4

Tu 05/03/11...07:06:25 PM...07:11:25 PM...07:16:25 PM...FD 3

Sponge Bob

If they launch Sunday the shuttle and tank should be visible in Ireland around 9:35-9.55 PM on their second orbit but we will not see their first overflight.

Raging_Ninja

Engineers and Managers to Assess APU Issue
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:14:11 PM GMT

Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach stated that Endeavour's launch will be no earlier than Monday at 2:33 p.m. EDT. Engineers need that time to troubleshoot an issue that resulted in today’s launch scrub.

During today’s countdown, engineers detected a failure in one of two heater circuits associated with Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) 1. Heaters are required to keep the APUs’ hydrazine from freezing on orbit. Attempts to activate the heater were not successful and engineers now believe the problem might be associated with a Load Control Assembly, which is a switchbox, located in the aft end of Endeavour, or an electrical short in the wires leading into or out of the switchbox.

Endeavour’s external tank will be drained, technicians will enter Endeavour’s aft compartment overnight and by tomorrow afternoon, will put in a platform to gain access to the avionics bay where the Load Control Assembly is located. Once there, they will assess whether they need to remove and replace the switchbox, or fix an electrical wiring short.

Because of this, Leinbach said there will be a minimum 72-hour scrub turnaround.

Engineers and managers will meet this afternoon to further refine their troubleshooting plan. NASA has scheduled a news conference at 4 p.m. to discuss today’s scrub and the plan.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Sucks.

ttoppcat

Ah damn

No launch before Monday

Engineers and Managers to Assess APU Issue
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:14:11 PM GMT

Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach stated that Endeavour's launch will be no earlier than Monday at 2:33 p.m. EDT. Engineers need that time to troubleshoot an issue that resulted in today’s launch scrub.

During today’s countdown, engineers detected a failure in one of two heater circuits associated with Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) 1. Heaters are required to keep the APUs’ hydrazine from freezing on orbit. Attempts to activate the heater were not successful and engineers now believe the problem might be associated with a Load Control Assembly, which is a switchbox, located in the aft end of Endeavour, or an electrical short in the wires leading into or out of the switchbox.

Endeavour’s external tank will be drained, technicians will enter Endeavour’s aft compartment overnight and by tomorrow afternoon, will put in a platform to gain access to the avionics bay where the Load Control Assembly is located. Once there, they will assess whether they need to remove and replace the switchbox, or fix an electrical wiring short.

Because of this, Leinbach said there will be a minimum 72-hour scrub turnaround.

Engineers and managers will meet this afternoon to further refine their troubleshooting plan. NASA has scheduled a news conference at 4 p.m. to discuss today’s scrub and the plan.

ScumLord

Deleted User wrote: »

No launch before Monday

Cool I'd completely forgotten about the launch, will we still be able to see it here?

joeKel73

From the Astronomy forum;

Beeker wrote: »

Launch delayed to May 8th at 17:09 Irish time but this could well slip further.

ScumLord

Would that mean it'll be a bit to bright outside to see it?

joeKel73

Yeap, launch date might change yet though.

Sponge Bob

If the launch date is later than tomorrow we will see nothing, the space station will not be visible overhead after that. Could be the launch is delayed for ages and that we are lucky but we will see nothing if launch date is the 8th of May or the 10th which has also been mooted.

There is to be a final launch around June, mission sts-135 , I might start a new thread, depending

squonk

Looking like the launch will be pushed into next week now. Ah well!

Aiel

As Sponge Bob said if the ISS is'nt passing over Ireland on the date the shuttle launches then we wont see anything as it will be on a flight path to match the space station.Ideally you'd need the launch to be around 9.30pm to see anything properly.A few years ago during one launch it was nicely visible over the West of Ireland then over the South.Useless piece of information for ye is that Shannon Airport is an emergency/alternative landing Runway for the Space Shuttle but its never had to be used.

Sponge Bob

Aiel wrote: »

.Useless piece of information for ye is that Shannon Airport is an emergency/alternative landing Runway for the Space Shuttle but its never had to be used.

Not any more, 3 sites in Spain and France are the current abort sites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_abort_modes#Transoceanic_Abort_Landing_.28TAL.29

KetchupKid

It sounds like we won't get to see the Space Shuttle, since it appears the launch might be pushed off at least until 16-May and possibly not until July. As a minimum I hoped to see the Space station, but I haven't been able to spot it. It passes over Ireland tonight at about 9:33PM, but I suspect it won't be visible in Galway since it will be too low in sky. I was looking up it's next possible visible pass over the Galway area and it might not be until 1-June, and that will be at 3:08AM. Since this will be pretty close to the the summer solstice, hopefully there will be enough sunlight to reflect on the ISS so we can see it.

I'm new to this so hopefully Sponge Bob or someone else can correct me if any of my facts are wrong.

Sponge Bob

KetchupKid wrote: »

I was looking up it's next possible visible pass over the Galway area and it might not be until 1-June, and that will be at 3:08AM. Since this will be pretty close to the the summer solstice, hopefully there will be enough sunlight to reflect on the ISS so we can see it.

I'm new to this so hopefully Sponge Bob or someone else can correct me if any of my facts are wrong.

The shuttle will not launch before the 10th. The launch window goes back 1 hour every 3 days so it would take until well into June to get the launch window back where we could see the shuttle just after takeoff and that would be a 2-4am launch or something like that. Even by the end of May we would be looking at a 2pm launch ( our time)

The time I saw the shuttle and tank fly past in Galway was late July 2009 around 11pm ( IIRC) . Nothing wrong with July launches

ScumLord

The last time I saw it I spent five minutes looking at stars wondering is that it, is that blinking light there it.. But once it came along there was no doubting it was the space shuttle, absolutely awesome piece of kit. Couldn't get over the speed of it.

Wompa1

Anybody know if this will be visible in the daylight today?

Sponge Bob

Nope!

Wompa1

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Nope!

Oh well...I'll just enjoy the low flying planes for Galway airport while they last I guess.

Aiel

Not visible sadly.To find what Satelites and when the Space Station is passing over Galway use this website:
http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/
Click on the Global Flybys link and follow the instructions

apoeiguq3094y

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

t-5 minutes to launch