Discovery passed almost directly overhead tonight, with the ISS following 27 seconds later. Thankfully Jan was there to share it, and to witness something we’ve never seen before or probably will see again.
Just as Discovery passed straight overhead, a plume of white, faintly colorful reflections appeared right around it, and expanded for about ten seconds, dimming as it grew with the shuttle still in the middle. It was still faintly visible when it was about 1/2° across, or about the apparent size of the full moon. My immediate thought was something had gone terribly wrong. After a moment I realized we’d probably seen the Orbital Maneuvering System fire a burst of flames, during operation or perhaps testing.
I had a video camera set up to try and catch some light trails, but unfortunately it wasn’t pointed straight up. Even so, that was just stunning.
As I wrote last week, the docked ISS and Shuttle Atlantis have an impressive list of flyovers for New England this week. Tonight was the first clear night all week, so I was hopeful. I even called my Dad at the moment the show was starting, and he saw it. I called my wife, who I was en route to pick up at the train station, and she probably saw it. But I didn’t! Even with my sunroof open, and the GPS on so I knew where true North was, I missed it somehow. I was on the highway, so I really couldn’t spare a lot of time glancing at the sky.
