Thanksgiving double flyby of Atlantis, Space Station

William Atkins
Wednesday, 25 November 2009 22:46

Science - Space

With the space shuttle Atlantis departing from the International Space Station on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, the two spacecraft are primed for double flybys over the night sky above Earth.


The NASA space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 4:53 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night/Thursday morning and Thursday night/Friday morning the two spacecraft will be flying side-by-side high overhead in the night sky.

Many people will be able to see Atlantis and the ISS fly overhead in the sky early on the morning of Thanksgiving Day, which is Thursday, November 26, 2009.

They will be flying side by side in the darkened sky, with the brighter one the Space Station and the dimmer one the space shuttle Atlantis.

Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the morning of Friday, November 27, 2009—at 9:43 a.m. EST—which is the day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

To see if you will be able to see the Double Flyby over U.S. and Canadian skies, go to Satellite Flybys from SpaceWeather.com. It will tell you the direction (and time) to look to first see the pair, and which way they will progress across the night sky.

If you live elsewhere in the world, go to Global Flybys, also from SpaceWeather.com.

In addition, if you would like text messages or telephone calls sent to you when the International Space Station goes over your local sky, please go to SpaceWeather Phone.

To learn more about the STS-129 mission, please go to the NASA website STS-129 Mission Information.

Another website to find out when the ISS is overhead in your local sky is provided by NASA: Skywatch.