This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
TAG
“Overview Effect”
Space Stations And Fireflies
Space Stations And Fireflies


Keith’s note: I caught a space station flyover last night: “Time: Mon Jul 10 10:33 PM EDT , Visible: 7 min, Max Height: 82°, Appears: 10° above SW, Disappears: 10° above NE” I got a good 5 minutes of viewing – a perfect flyover – even with my hand over my bad eye (with cataracts). It is arguably the brightest thing in the night sky. And people live inside it. Here in Reston, Virginia – a “Tree City” we have lots of – trees. So usually I have to wait 1-2 minutes for the ISS to clear the trees. I usually catch it flickering behind a tree until it is higher up and in the clear. Enter the fireflies. They drove me nuts and faked me out several times. There is a piece of my mind in the ISS’ construction (it was my job at NASA at one time), there are things on board that I got named in honor of several NASA mentors, and then there is that little plastic nugget with 4 tiny Apollo 11 Moon rocks inside that Scott Parazynski and I schlepped all over Nepal (he took it up to the top of Everest) which is now inside the ISS observation cupola where everyone on board goes to look down at Earth. And all of that flew over MY HOUSE tonight. Too cool. Oh and it will happen again tonight. BTW That’s Jessica Watkins getting her daily dose of the #OverviewEffect

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • July 11, 2023