December 11, 2006: Great shuttle takeoff photos

[Griff]

Originally Posted by bhaemolytic

The next few weeks promise excellent sightings of the shuttle docked with the ISS. You can calculate your sighting opportunities at this NASA website:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

Simply choose your country and city...and hope for clear skies. With a very decent pair of binoculars, you can even discern the rough shape of the ISS.

Thanks!

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by BigV

Lucky for you the terrain in your area is so flat.

Well, we don't think of it as such. The location I chose was atop a local ridge, about 100ft higher in elevation than my house.

But I flew the Cardinal to Pittsburgh the other day and was reminded of how un-flat much of the rest of Pennsylvania is compared to Western Montgomery County. Especially around, say, Altoona.

On the other hand, Gwennie, who mostly grew up in Chicagoland, finds this area rather bumpy.

[CharlieG]

Originally Posted by ajaccio

Going to watch a lift-off from the Cape is one thing I wish to do in this lifetime. No good reason I have not done it by now, except letting life get in the way. Maybe the next one...

Been there, done that. Unfortunately the launch was from 39B not 39A - which means 8 miles not 3. It was loud, but not as loud as I've heard it is from 3 miles - I hear that the at 3 miles, it's nearly painful

You can check it out with a decent telescope from my house.

[xoxoxoBruce]

[xoxoxoBruce]

For those of you that wish they could get close to the launch...