Space Station and Shuttle following each other

As I write this, the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station have just closed the door between each other, as the Shuttle crew prepare to return to Earth. The two vehicles will separate at noon GMT tomorrow (7th March, 2011), and so on the evening of Monday the 7th March we will get the rare (and last?) opportunity to see the two spacecraft following each other in the night sky over the UK.

We will have two attempts to see them fly over the UK together on Monday...

The first past will be very difficult to spot, since the Sun is not setting until 17:50 - but you may just get a glimpse of the pair as they disappear in the East (it is sometimes possible to see the space station in daylight!)

• Rising just North of West at 17:46 GMT
• Reaching 72° high in the South at 17:50
• Setting at 17:53 in the East

The pair fly over the UK again 96 minutes later, but by then they only get 19 degrees above the horizon...

• Rising in the West at 19:23 GMT
• Reaching 19° high in the South-West at 19:25
• Setting at 19:27 in the South

You will get another chance to see the Shuttle and Station on Tuesday 8th March, as they fly over the UK from 18:13 GMT in the west, peaking at 18:16 GMT in the South some 36° high, and disappearing at 18:19 GMT - but who knows how far apart the Shuttle and Station will be by then?

For more details, including live footage from NASA TV, see SpaceFlightNow.com.

More International Space Station fly-pasts...

The International Space Station will be visible flying over the UK for another week (before it starts flying over in daytime), so do take a look... and don't forget to wave at the six astronauts currently on board as they fly overhead!

The space station orbits the Earth every 96 minutes, but for us to clearly see it, the ISS needs to fly over at dawn and dusk. We see the space station thanks to sunlight reflecting off it, mainly off the huge solar panels the size of a football field. If it flies overhead in the daytime, the sky is too bright for us to see it; and if it flies over head at night, then the station is in the shadow of the Earth, and so we can't see any reflected sunlight.

For the next week, we are lucky - on some nights we can see the ISS fly overhead on two consecutive orbits, one 96 minutes after the other.

Date	Starts			Maximum height			Ends
	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.
5 May	21:01:04	10	W	21:04:00	86	NW	21:07:00	10	E
5 May	22:36:23	10	W	22:39:22	82	N	22:40:16	41	E
6 May	21:26:09	10	W	21:29:07	73	N	21:32:05	10	E
6 May	23:01:26	10	WNW	23:04:09	62	SW	23:04:09	62	SW
7 May	21:51:11	10	W	21:54:10	83	N	21:56:30	15	E
8 May	20:40:53	10	W	20:43:51	73	N	20:46:49	10	E
8 May	22:16:10	10	W	22:19:07	63	SSW	22:20:18	31	SE
9 May	21:05:51	10	W	21:08:49	85	N	21:11:47	10	E
9 May	22:41:13	10	W	22:43:54	32	SSW	22:44:03	32	SSW
10 May	21:30:45	10	W	21:33:41	61	SSW	21:36:19	12	ESE
11 May	21:55:44	10	W	21:58:24	31	SSW	22:00:02	18	SSE
13 May	21:10:07	10	W	21:12:45	29	SSW	21:15:22	10	SSE

International Space Station flying over the UK...

Over the next few weeks, the International Space Station can be easily seen flying over the UK. Its solar panels are the size of a football field, allowing the space station to be easily seen from the ground as they reflect plenty of sunlight.

Times when the space station can be seen for the next week are below, or at either SpaceWeather.com, or on Heavens-Above.com. Although these times are exact for Brighton, the times will be within half a minute of these times for anywhere in the UK, or you can simply follow those links and type in a new location.

The table below gives the time and position of the International Space Station as it starts to fly over the UK, reaches the maximum height and the time when it disappears (ends).

In the table, Alt. refers to the altitude of the space craft as it flies overhead (90° is directly overhead, and 0° is the horizon); Az. is the Azimuth, or direction, of where it will be at the given time (0° being North, 90°: is East, 180° is South and 270° is West).

Date	Starts			Max. height			Ends
	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.
29 Apr	21:41:07	10	SSW	21:43:40	26	SSE	21:44:24	23	ESE
30 Apr	22:05:51	10	SW	22:08:45	53	SSE	22:09:58	29	E
1 May	20:56:20	10	SSW	20:58:54	27	SSE	21:01:30	10	E
1 May	22:30:59	10	WSW	22:33:57	89	SSE	22:34:54	40	ENE
2 May	21:21:03	10	WSW	21:23:57	55	SSE	21:26:52	10	E
2 May	22:56:14	10	W	22:59:12	73	N	22:59:26	67	NE
3 May	21:46:08	10	WSW	21:49:07	89	N	21:52:05	10	ENE
3 May	23:21:28	10	W	23:23:44	48	WNW	23:23:44	48	WNW
4 May	20:36:08	10	WSW	20:39:03	58	SSE	20:41:59	10	E
4 May	22:11:21	10	W	22:14:19	73	N	22:16:22	18	E
5 May	21:01:12	10	W	21:04:11	87	N	21:07:08	10	E
5 May	22:36:31	10	W	22:39:30	82	N	22:40:24	41	E
6 May	21:26:22	10	W	21:29:20	73	N	21:32:17	10	E
6 May	23:01:39	10	WNW	23:04:22	61	SW	23:04:22	61	SW

International Space Station

To see a satellite, it must fly over head at either dawn or dusk - when it is dark enough for us to see them, but when sunlight can still shine onto the satellite (for instance, if a satellite flies over-head at midnight, it is in the shadow of the Earth for the entire flyby).

Sometimes, a particular satellite will fly over-head at midday when the daylight is too bright; sometimes it might fly over at midnight when it cannot reflect sunlight.

You might have seen satellites flying over-head yourself and just not realised what you are looking at. The rule of thumb is - if it is flashing, it is an aircraft, but if it is at a steady brightness, then you are looking at a satellite!

For the next week, the International Space Station is ideally placed to be seen flying directly over the UK! The approximate dates and times are listed below...

Date	Time, direction (and altitude) of...
	Appearance	Highest point	Disappearance
8 March	19:26 West (10°)	19:29 South (73°)	19:30 East (52°)
9 March	18:16 South-West (10°)	18:19 South (42°)	18:22 East (10°)
9 March	19:51 West (10°)	19:54 West (70°)	19:54 West (70°)
10 March	18:41 West (10°)	18:44 South (75°)	18:46 East (13°)
11 March	19:06 West (10°)	19:09 North (85°)	19:11 East (23°)
12 March	19:31 West (10°)	19:34 North-West (89°)	19:34 East (47°)
13 March	18:20 West (10°)	18:23 North (85°)	18:26 East (10°)
13 March	19:55 West (10°)	19:58 South-West (61°)	19:58 South-West (61°)
14 March	18:45 West (10°)	18:48 South (89°)	18:51 East (12°)
15 March	19:10 West (10°)	19:13 South (61°)	19:15 East (20°)
16 March	19:35 West (10°)	19:37 South (32°)	19:39 South (24°)
17 March	18:24 West (10°)	18:27 South (59°)	18:30 east (10°)

For other times and locations, see the SpaceWeather flyby predictor.