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(meteorobs) SHUTTLE LAUNCH TO BE VISIBLE ALONG US EAST COAST
A little off-topic . . . but something to look for if you're along the East
Coast doing some early-morning observing later this week!
-- Joe Rao
<A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/skywayinc/index.html">Click here for the
Skyway, Inc. Home Page</A>
(This updated release also includes the latest Shuttle Advisory from the
Kennedy Space Center)
LAUNCH OF SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS SHOULD BE VISIBLE ALONG MUCH OF THE U.S.
EAST COAST EARLY THURSDAY MORNING
LEVITTOWN, N.Y. -- If you have ever yearned to see a Space Shuttle
launch, but have never been able to make it down to Florida, you'll get a
great opportunity -- weather conditions permitting - during the early morning
hours sometime during this week. According to SKYWAY's Joe Rao, the launch
of the 104th shuttle mission -- and the tenth to rendezvous and dock with the
International Space Station -- should be visible along much of the Eastern
Seaboard of the United States, including the Greater New York Area.
The Shuttle Atlantis is expected to leave Pad 39B at Florida's Kennedy
Space Center on Thursday, July 12, 2001 at 5:04 a.m. EDT. Should the launch
be scrubbed (there is a 40% chance of a weather violation . . . see the
advisory from the Kennedy Space Center below), the launch time will come
approximately 24 minutes earlier for each successive day that the launch is
delayed. . . meaning, for example, a Friday attempt to launch would come at
around 4:40 a.m. EDT.
In order to meet-up with the ISS, the Shuttle will be launched into a
special orbit that is inclined 51.6° to the equator. Usually, after liftoff,
the Shuttle heads out over the Atlantic straight east from Florida, however,
the upoming launch -- specially configured to match the ISS orbit -- will
bring the Shuttle's path nearly parallel to the U.S. East Coast. Atlantis
will be visible primarily by virtue of the light emanating from its three
main engines, although as it moves past the mid-Atlantic seaboard, it will
begin attaining an altitude high enough to allow it to become illuminated by
reflected sunlight.
"It should appear as a very bright, fast-moving star, shining with a
pulsating yellowish-orange glow," notes Rao, adding that observers who train
binoculars on the Shuttle should be able to see it look like a ". . . tiny
V-shaped contrail."
Prospective Shuttle-watchers should make sure that they have an
unobstructed view of the southern and eastern horizons, since, even for many
localities along the US East Coast it will get no higher than 10º above the
horizon just before it disappears from view. "The best views will probably
be from tall buildings or along south and southeast-facing shorelines."
Atlantis may seem to briefly appear enveloped in a puff of smoke exactly
8½ minutes after launch as the main engines shut-down and the shuttle's
orange external fuel tank is jettisoned over the Atlantic at a point 415
miles southeast of New York City. At that moment, the Shuttle will have
climbed to an altitude of 375,000 feet (71 miles) and should be visible for
a radius of some 700 miles from the point of main engine shutdown. Both the
Shuttle orbiter and the jettisoned fuel tank may continue to be visible as
they reflect the light of the rising Sun and rapidly move away toward the
northeast.
* In the Southeast US, depending on the distance from Cape Canaveral,
Atlantis will become visible anywhere from 0 to 5 minutes after it leaves Pad
39-A. The brilliant light emitted by the two solid rocket boosters will be
visible for the first 2.1 minutes of the launch up to a radius of 450 miles
from the Kennedy Space Center. Movement: south-southeast to east.
* In the Middle Atlantic region, Atlantis should be visible from 5 to 7
minutes after liftoff. Movement: south-southeast to east.
* For the Greater New York Area up into Southern New England, Atlantis should
be visible from T + 7 minutes on up to main engine cutoff (8.5 minutes after
liftoff), and quite possibly beyond this point. Movement: south to
southeast, then on toward the east-northeast.
Before hoping to see the Shuttle streak across your local sky, you should
make sure that it has left the launch pad! "Watch the launch on CNN, MSNBC
or FOX News Channel, or listen to a local news radio station that is covering
it live," suggests Rao. "Then head outside and start looking skyward."
VISIBILITY DATA FOR SELECTED EAST COAST CITIES
Time of Closest
Location Approach Max. Altitude Azimuth
Savannah, GA T + 3½ Min. 10.2º 142.6º
Atlanta, GA T + 4 Min. 2.9º 121.8º
Spartanburg, SC T + 4½ Min. 4.4º 137.3º
Myrtle Beach, SC T + 5 Min. 13.8º 140.7º
Wilmington, NC T + 5½ Min. 15.3º 142.7º
Greensboro, NC T + 6 Min. 6.6º 128.0º
Cape Hatteras, NC T + 6½ Min. 22.1º 146.6º
Roanoke, VA T + 6½ Min. 5.0º 126.3º
Norfolk, VA T + 7 Min. 11.9º 129.5º
Wallops Island, VA T + 7½ Min. 11.4º 127.4º
Hagerstown, MD T + 7½ Min. 5.0º 129.8º
Washington, DC T + 7½ Min. 6.8º 127.9º
Baltimore, MD T + 7½ Min. 6.7º 133.2º
Dover, DE T + 7½ Min. 8.3º 139.4º
Philadelphia, PA T + 8 Min. 7.8º 132.2º
Atlantic City, NJ T + 8 Min. 10.0º 131.9º
Wilkes-Barre, PA T + 8½ Min. 5.1º 126.2º
New York City, NY T + 8½ Min. 8.0º 129.6º
Hartford, CT. T + 8½ Min. 7.8º 145.4º
Providence, RI T + 8½ Min. 8.8º 155.6º
Boston, MA T + 8½ Min. 7.8º 160.8º
Portsmouth, NH T + 8½ Min. 6.4º 165.1º
Portland, ME T + 8½ Min. 5.5º 169.8º
Albany, NY T + 8½ Min. 5.3º 143.5º
Halifax, NS T + 8½ Min. 2.6º 209.7º
In the above table . . . the time of closest approach is based on the number
of minutes counted forward from the time the Shuttle lifts off from Florida.
Altitude of the Shuttle is the number of degrees measured from above the
horizon. Azimuth is the horizontal angular distance measured clockwise in
degrees along the horizon from due north. Hence: 0º = North; 90º = East;
180º = South; 270º = West.
As an example, for New York City on Thursday morning, the Shuttle's closest
approach will come 8½ minutes after liftoff from Florida (5:12:30 a.m. EDT),
with its maximum altitude above the horizon of 8.0º at an azimuth of 129.6º,
or 39.6º south of due east.
All Calculations by Joe Rao, SKYWAY, INC.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
SHUTTLE and PAYLOAD PROCESSING STATUS REPORT
Monday, July 9, 2001 (2:30 p.m.)
NOTE: This is an orbiter processing report and does not necessarily reflect
the chronological order of upcoming Space Shuttle flights. Visit
http://www-pao.ksc.nasadot gov/kscpao/schedule/schedule.htm on the KSC Home
Page for the latest schedule of future Shuttle missions.
Launch - 3 Days
MISSION: STS-104 - 10th ISS Flight (7A) - Airlock
VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
LOCATION: Launch Pad 39B
KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: July 12, 2001 at 5:04 a.m. EDT
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: July 23, 2001 at 12:57 a.m.
MISSION DURATION: 10 days and 19 hours and 53 minutes
CREW: Lindsey, Hobaugh, Kavandi, Gernhardt, Reilly
ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 122 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
Shuttle Processing Note: The flight crew for mission STS-104 arrived at KSC
last night to begin final preparation for their upcoming launch. Space
Shuttle Atlantis' launch countdown began on time today at 8 a.m. and routine
preflight processing continues to go well.
Over the weekend, workers completed orbiter aft compartment closeouts.
Technicians also successfully replaced and retested an orbiter mass memory
unit and a TV monitor on the aft flight deck.
Upcoming Shuttle Milestones:
Load cryogenic reactants into Atlantis' onboard tanks . . . . . . . . . July
10 (5:30 - 10:30 a.m.)
Stow flight crew equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . July 11 (5:20 a.m.)
Move Rotating Service Structure to park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .July 11 (9 a.m.)
Begin loading external tank with propellants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. July 11 (as early as 7:38 p.m.)
Weather Status: Forecasters indicate an abundance of tropical moisture in
the central Florida area with disturbances moving in from the north. This
will result in a threat of coastal precipitation through the weekend. At
launch time on Thursday, clouds are expected to be scattered at 2000 feet
and broken at 12,000 feet and 25,000 feet. Visibility will be 7 miles,
temperature 74 degrees F., and humidity 93 percent. Winds will be from the
west at 8 -12 knots. Coastal showers and thunderstorm anvil clouds are the
primary concern. As a result, there is a 40 percent chance of KSC weather
prohibiting launch. The 24-hour and 48-hour scrub turnaround forecast calls
for a 60 percent chance of violation each day. Also, the late Wednesday
afternoon forecast calls for 30 percent chance of weather violating tanking
constraints.
SUMMARY OF BUILT-IN HOLDS FOR STS-104
T-TIME LENGTH OF HOLD HOLD BEGINS HOLD ENDS
T-27 hours 4 hours 12 a.m. Tues. 4 a.m. Tues.
T-19 hours 4 hours 12 noon Tues. 4 p.m. Tues.
T-11 hours 13 hours, 8 minutes 12 a.m. Wed. 1:08 p.m. Wed.
T-6 hours 2 hours 6:08 p.m. Wed. 8:08 p.m. Wed.
T-3 hours 2 hours 11:08 p.m. Wed. 1:08 a.m. Thurs.
T-20 minutes 10 minutes 3:48 a.m. Thurs. 3:58 a.m. Thurs.
T-9 minutes about 45 minutes 4:09 a.m. Thurs. 4:54 a.m.
Thurs.
CREW FOR MISSION STS-104
Commander (CDR): Steven Lindsey
Pilot (PLT): Charles Hobaugh
Mission Specialist (MS1): Janet Kavandi
Mission Specialist (MS2): Michael Gernhardt
Mission Specialist (MS3): James Reilly
SUMMARY OF STS-104 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES
Wed., July 11
5 p.m. Crew wake up
5:45 p.m. Breakfast
6:30 p.m. Medical checks
10 p.m. Photo and Lunch (to be recorded and televised later)
Thurs., July 12
12:33 a.m. Weather Briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2)
12:33 a.m. Don flight suits (MS1 and MS3)
*12:43 a.m. Don flight suits (CDR, PLT, MS2)
*1:13 a.m. Depart for launch pad
*1:43 a.m. Arrive at white room and begin ingress
*2:58 a.m. Close crew hatch
*5:04 a.m. Launch
* Televised events (times may vary slightly)
All times Eastern
-- end --
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