Possible Spotting of Dragon Spacecraft Saturday August 1st if the Undocking Occurs as Scheduled

[petemn2004]

There is a possibility of spotting the Dragon spacecraft the evening of Saturday August 1st if the undocking of Dragon spacecraft from the ISS occurs as now scheduled.

Per NASA web site:
"NASA and SpaceX are targeting 7:34 p.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 1, for undocking of the Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft from the space station and 2:42 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2, for splashdown, which will be the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the space station."

Heavens-Above.com has this for visible passes of the ISS for Saturday August 1st for the Twin Cities:

01 Aug -3.7 21:08:40 10° WNW 21:12:02 82° SSW 21:15:23 10° SE visible
01 Aug -1.3 22:46:50 10° WSW 22:48:19 12° SW 22:48:34 12° SW visible

The first one listed shows almost overhead at 9:12 PM CDT. Sunset is 8:39 PM. The sky may not be dark enough to spot the dim Dragon.
The second pass shows low in the southwest which will also be a challenge.

Timing of the ISS passes may change slightly as time gets nearer.


Mark Petersen

[petemn2004]

It is partly cloudy in the northern Twin Cities and to the north of the Twin Cities at 8:30 PM (Saturday August 1st).

Heavens-Above.om has this for the ISS passes tonight:
Date Start Highest point End
(mag) Brightness Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
01 Aug -3.7 21:10:17 10° WNW 21:13:39 80° SSW 21:17:01 10° SE
01 Aug -1.2 22:48:34 10° WSW 22:49:58 12° SW 22:50:11 12° SW

Sunset is 8:39 PM. For the first pass the ISS will pass almost overhead but the sky will still be pretty bright.

If you can spot the ISS starting at 9:10 PM with the naked eye I recommend using binoculars to try to spot the much dimmer Dragon spacecraft.
The Dragon is in a lower orbit and traveling faster so it will be slightly ahead of the ISS.

The second pass (10:48 PM) the ISS has a much lower maximum altitude above the horizon. The sky will be much darker but the ISS goes into orbital sunset not long after maximum altitude.

Mark

[petemn2004]

Dragon on the first pass may be behind the ISS.

Mark

[kibatme]

Enjoyed watching the pass of ISS and Dragon in formation. Saw the ISS first totally by accident and then noticed Dragon tracking just ahead of it.

Oh and no binoculars needed to see Dragon!

[setnes]

My wife and I saw ISS from Bloomington tonight. The dragon capsule was ahead of it by about three finger widths. I did not take any pictures.