The International Space Station Comes Together!

This is a good history lesson on the Space Station...

Look at what happened from 1998 until 2008. In just ten years it has grown and grown. Watch the pieces come together as they are sent up from Earth. This is the International Space Station (ISS) Assembly diagram, piece by piece. Really, I had no idea the Space Station had grown to this size.
This is really cool.....

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GAKOLOnfV4[/YOUTUBE]

Christopher

If you have never done so, it is really worth looking for when a visible fly-over of the International Space Station is going to happen where you live. They occur around dusk and dawn (obviously the ISS needs to still be illuminated by sunlight for it to be visible).

There are a couple of websites which can be used to get predicted fly-over times but my favourite one is www.heavens-above.com
Input your location (either manually or from the database), and click on ISS. Look out for a maximum altitude above about 70 degrees (how high it appears in the sky from where you are standing). Anything below about 45 degrees is IMHO not worth looking out for. Once you get above 80 degrees it starts to get really spectacular (this may only occur a handful of times per year) as the higher it appears in the sky, the less atmosphere the light has to shine through and so the brighter it appears. Ideally you want to see as much of the horizon as possible as it gives you an idea of its curved trajectory (especially when it is moving away from you). With a good quality pair of binoculars (cheap ones are a bit hopeless for this sort of thing) you may be able to pick out the shape of the structure but it moves too fast to use a telescope.

Now is a good time to look out for it as with the space shuttle attached, it will be your last chance to see it this bright (and the last opportunity to see the shuttle fly overhead).

Obviously it helps to be away from bright city lights but the ISS is so bright that with a high-altitude pass, it should be visible just about anywhere.

Isn't it amazing what we can do when we set aside our differences and work together.

How much bigger are they planning on making it? Or is it done for the time being? I remember something about building stooping when the US space shuttle stops flying.

instpasr said:

Isn't it amazing what we can do when we set aside our differences and work together.

Click to expand...

+1. The ISS is as astounding a feat as human civilization has ever accomplished. Whenever I take a moment and reflect that, more or less every day for quite some time, there are human beings living in space, I am dumbfounded and awed.