Starship Asterisk*

[quote="Chris Peterson"]when you brake, you drop into a lower orbit, and a lower orbit is, necessarily, going to have a shorter period. So the shuttle ends up leading the ISS.[/quote]

Aha! Makes perfect sense. Thank you.

-Noel

[quote="NoelC"]Something that's got me curious...

Why would Discovery be first? Shouldn't we imagine them braking in preparation for return to Earth, rather than speeding up?[/quote]
Agreed, it seems a bit non-intuitive. But when you brake, you drop into a lower orbit, and a lower orbit is, necessarily, going to have a shorter period. So the shuttle ends up leading the ISS.

Something that's got me curious...

Why would Discovery be first? Shouldn't we imagine them braking in preparation for return to Earth, rather than speeding up?

-Noel

cool! 8-) :lol:

Tuesday was the better night for me to see them - and even though I've been able to spot the ISS several times now, (it sounds cheesy but) it gives me chills every time! The video was great, showing the separation.

Awesome image!

8-)

I saw the ISS/Shuttle double passes on Monday and Tuesday evenings from the eastern USA (southern New Jersey to be specific). Monday, March 7th, was certainly the most spectacular with the spacing between Discovery and the ISS ranging from about 4 to 10 degrees. Unfortunately, today's APOD doesn't really capture the visual grandeur of Monday's pass because the tracks of the two spacecraft are essentially superimposed. The video shows the separation (and eliminates the star trailing), but actually seeing the two bright points of light moving in tandem was better. When I saw them again on Tuesday, they were about 45 degrees apart -- still a fine sight.

This is a lovely image! Ditto the video.

Though I did not have as picturesque a locale, I watched the pair fly by on Tuesday night, first Discovery, and then about a minute behind, the ISS. Both were very bright, and their passage made me think of ships sailing through calm waters.

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110310.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_110310.jpg[/img] [size=150]Discovery in Twilight[/size][/url]

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