This time, they were fairly well apart. I looked like one star trailer the other. Too cool!

It wasn’t anywhere near the view on Monday, as they were low to the horizon. But it was cool, nonetheless.

Now that I know what to look for (aside from one occasion with Mir, I’ve never deliberately looked for shuttle/space station viewing times), I can only wonder how many times I must have seen a bright light like this, and thought it a plane.

I guess I’ve got myself a new hobby and a new thing to look forward to waking up to!

The field centers lost the ability to post independently after the Bushies came in.
It is improved from the time of the Deutsch fiasco, when there was a main web page glorifying Bush and not much else. It still doesn’t look like the field centers have much autonomy at present. So don’t expect fast updates.
Don’t blame NASA. Plan the politicos.

Speciesist.

>> OneHotJupiter, not humans, Cetaceans. Dolphins and whales buddy, dolphins and whales.

Speciesist.

I for one welcome our cybernetic overlords. Metal is better than meat!

Great viewing conditions here, and yes, a good way to start the day off. Later on, the lack of sleep might have some say in the matter, but for now…

Couldn’t get the camera coordinated to the telescope, so I went with a zoom telephoto lens at 1000mm instead – probably unable to resolve any real detail (I’m one of those binariphobes who still uses film, so I won’t know for a few days). Briefly as it rose, I could have sworn I saw two distinct points of light, but never saw that within the viewfinder, so I’m supposing it was a trick of my glasses. But very vivid and distinct, and moving fast. I waved, but didn’t see a wing waggle in return…

Venus illuminating one side of the moon was nice, and the predawn glow here was quite colorful. Did I see all four planets visible this morning? Not sure, but I know I spotted at least three. The comet was disappearing in the twilight by that time.

So, tomorrow will we get a chance to see the shuttle and ISS separately? Heavens-Above doesn’t have the shuttle details yet.

I think humans in space is a good idea. I doubt a robot can express the emotion of seeing the Earth from space, and, imho, seeing the Earth from Space is one big reason why we go to space.

I didn’t see two seperate points of light, but it was still awesome.
It looked like a moving light as bright as Jupiter.
Even cooler (aside from the weather) was the array of stars, such as Orion.
The moon and Venus made a lovely couple. Saturn and Mars lined up above them. I think I saw Comet Holmes. Hard to tell, as I’m not totally familar with all the stars in constellations. Plus, I’m in a light polluted area.

All I can say is “What a way to start the morning!”
I hope others have managed to glimpse at this.

Private may .. just may … be the way of the future but it has an awefully long way to catch up.

As I said before, we all owe NASA a lot more credit respect and apprecaiation than it generally gets.

NASA – for its flaws and faults has accomplished a huge amount & deserves due credit & our respect.

I for one will always appreciate and be grateful for :

- The first people in space (together with the then Soviets)

- The Apollo Moon progra and landing

- The Viking landers, Mars rovers and other Martian missions.

- The Voyager grand tour esp. the 1989 Neptune fly by that really got me into astronomy..

- The space shuttler, ,yes the shuttle, even withits problems for we forget how magnificent NASa’s reusable spaceplane really is.

- The Hubble Space Telescope

- The Cassini and Galileo missions

& much, much more …

That said, yes I wish they were better with net PR and bolder and more adventurous in vision.

Too bad my ‘scope isn’t with me now, or I’d oogle at Saturn and Mars before the big show.

Now let’s see if I can avoid screwing it up like I have before…

It turned out that I was probably watching the launch from the same stands where the school kids who named ISS Node 2 “Harmony” were sitting. NASA took a picture of the group: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/student_visit.html

In the large version of the photo, I am sitting just below the blonde lady to the right of the guy with red shirt, hat and glasses on the topmost row, standing in front of the fence. Like most of the European guests, I am wearing the unofficial uniform put together with ESA-ASI gifts: blue polo shirt and hat with the Esperia logo.

Somewhere behind me was sitting a Grumman employee who worked on the LM. Did I mention that this was an unforgettable experience?

Speaking of enthusiasm for space flight, I also had the privilege of meeting Damaris Sarria (sounds familiar?) together with a group of other Italian friends who are also space enthusiasts. She tells about the meeting here: http://damarisbsarria.blogspot.com/2007/10/i-miei-nuovi-amici-italiani.html

The Future belongs to the Robots?

Sounds to me like Something a BORG would say. Beware the Borg on Bad Astronomy!

Humans are the rightful Heirs of THIS Solar System!!!

But even overlooking the inevitable doom hanging over the human race, NASA still isn’t putting humans up there for even the relatively-useful things they could be doing. The serious work of science by and large isn’t being done by our manned programs. It’s the unmanned programs that reap the bountiful harvests of data.

There’s really not much worth paying attention to, here.

Seriously though, the whole idea of a reusable shuttle was to make space travel less expensive. Instead they’ve ended up with the most expensive way yet invented. That’s government for you.

But the manned stuff is typically bland and behind the times.

Not unlike the program itself. Ooh, too easy.

Yet I still watch every launch and every landing.

I’m fortunate to only have to get up at around 5:40am to see this event.

I don’t suppose NASA could afford to hire someone for the sole purpose of managing the website and providing lengthy articles, could they?

Scott Carpenter said something similar yesterday. He also said, “don’t fear, China is looming,” or something like that.

Yes, Scott Carpenter, one of the 2 surviving Mercury Astronauts talks about how the public doesn’t care what NASA is doing and I think of the Bad Astronomy guy. OOOOOooh, what is this world coming to? LOL

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/kgiraffe25/DSCF1603Small.jpg

My boy got to shake the hand of his hero, John Glenn, yesterday.