It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's the ISS

It's that time again. NASA sent up the Discovery Space Shuttle on the ides of March--obviously no one at NASA takes much stock in Shakespeare's foreboding line "beware the ides of March." We gathered the kids around the television to watch the event Sunday evening--kind of like gathering around the radio in days gone by. Today it docked with the International Space Station, and tonight we watched them go across our sky--it was a banner night, too, going from one side of the sky, across the middle to the other side. Six minutes in the sky (oftentimes it's only 1 or 2 minutes if anything). We were well-prepared for it, too. We got the camera set up on the tripod, checked the instruction manual, and set the camera to take a picture with the shutter open for an extended period. Here's a picture of the space station and docked shuttle streaking across our sky.

Check NASA's Space Station page to link to the sightings page and see when the Space Station (and the shuttle while it's orbiting and/or docked) will be visible in your sky.

Happy Birthday to a real shining star who is 40 years beautiful today. We love you!