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Space shuttle endeavour payload4/5/2024 that morning, the two space vehicles should emerge from the Earth’s shadow, dramatically appearing initially very high in the western sky, taking two minutes to track toward the northeast. Early risers in Melbourne can hope to see both Endeavour and the station pass almost directly overhead on the morning of May 12.Īt 5:45 a.m. local time, they will appear to track along a low arc above the southwest horizon for about three minutes.įrom Australia, Endeavour and the space station will be making passes before sunrise. Hawaii will have an opportunity to see both objects flying separately on the evening of May 11. Hawaiians will get to see that sight, too, but North Americans and Europeans will not, since both the shuttle and the space station will be passing by in the daytime hours during the second week of May. ![]() Both space vehicles will be seen as separate entities and will be visible at about the same time as they sweep across the sky. There won’t be a view from Alaska.Įndeavour is expected to undock from the International Space Station on May 11 at 6:23 a.m. Hawaii will have several opportunities beginning May 5. Those living across southern Canada may have visibility only for the first few days of May, while those living across the southern United States will continue to have viewing opportunities until about May 10. The docked Endeavour and space station will be making evening passes – visible after sunset – across southern Canada, most of Europe and the United States during the first week of May. To reach the station, Endeavour must be launched when Earth's rotation brings the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center into the plane of the station's orbit.įor the STS-134 mission, this will happen in the middle of a 10-minute launch window from Launch Pad 39A at 3:47:52 p.m. īy Sunday evening, Endeavour will be docked to the space station, and both will appear as a single bright moving "star." Endeavour is scheduled to dock at the orbiting outpost at 1:30 p.m. While the space station will be visible soon after sunset, Endeavour will be passing by before sunset in a daytime sky, and hence will not be visible. It appears that neither North America nor Europe will have any views of the shuttle as it “chases” the ISS in preparation for docking. The tanks are not recovered.Įndeavour will continue into orbit en route to the International Space Station. ![]() ![]() ![]() They break up before impact in the Pacific Ocean away from known shipping lanes. Unlike the shuttle's solid rocket boosters, external tanks are not reuseable. As a consequence, they should be visible for a much longer interval of time. For tomorrow's launch, they will be passing over Europe less than an hour after sunset. The viewing circumstances for the upcoming launch will be even more favorable than in 2009, when Endeavour and the fuel tank ultimately ducked into the Earth’s shadow and disappeared as they moved across the sky. "The two bright star-like objects were almost as bright as the space station – one bright white and the other deep orange.” "It was the most memorable thing I have ever seen!" wrote James Adamson of County Mayo in Ireland. Many Europeans enjoyed a similar spectacle during the previous launch of Endeavour, on July 15, 2009.
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