Reports

When I read, yesterday (Dec. 19th), that the Shuttle would undock from the ISS at 5:09pm EDT I wondered if we’d be lucky enough to see them, together. A quick check of www.heavens-above.com revealed they’d be right overhead at 6pm.

Sure enough, as Gail and I scanned the sky from our deck, a light as bright as Venus but with a yellow tint came out of the cloud bank over Lake Erie and headed toward us.

As it closed, we could see there were two lights, one close behind the other. 10x50 binoculars showed the separation to be about 10 arc minutes. I’d be interested to know the actual distance in metres (or kilometers?), at that time, between the two.

Another thing we noticed was how much larger and brighter the ISS appeared compared to our last sighting in the Spring. Also, the impression of speed was enhanced by seeing the two objects chase across the sky, as opposed to a single light. And, knowing there were nine people up there made it all the more impressive. Safe landing STS-116!