american astronauts back in space today

[Ray Proudfoot 8,950]

9 hours ago, vc10man said:

Thanks for the tip, Ray, which I was aware of, but I was erring on the cautious side not wanting to be seen with a tripod, camera, a very fast standard lens f/2.8, cable release, etc, etc, hence was wishing for less darkness. I like to be wary of my surroundings.

Fair enough Rick but with it being dark and your camera pointing skyward I can't see why people would be suspicious.

51 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

Yep, my son and I spotted it easily too. Second time I've seen it, first time for my son.

Actually, looking at my tracker on my phone, my daughter would have had it right over her head in Guernsey.

When you consider it's in orbit and how fast it passes over, it gives you appreciation for how fast 17000 mph is.

17,500mph equates to Mach 22.8! Over 10 times faster than Concorde.

[vc10man 732]

6 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

be suspicious.

Good Morning Ray. Not a question of being suspicious of my motives, more a case of me being a victim of a mugging , etc as it's a fairly isolated spot, no passers-by, etc, and with a very expensive body and equally expensive lens, I am loathe to chance it.

Is the ISS being seen tonight, again?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,950]

6 minutes ago, vc10man said:

Good Morning Ray. Not a question of being suspicious of my motives, more a case of me being a victim of a mugging , etc as it's a fairly isolated spot, no passers-by, etc, and with a very expensive body and equally expensive lens, I am loathe to chance it.

Is the ISS being seen tonight, again?

Understood Rick. Yes, last one for a while. Times later.

[vc10man 732]

18 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Understood Rick. Yes, last one for a while. Times later.

Thanks, Ray. Maybe tempted to take a gamble and try your tip tonight then.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,950]

8 minutes ago, vc10man said:

Thanks, Ray. Maybe tempted to take a gamble and try your tip tonight then.

22:09 to 22:15 Rick. Elevation 35° and magnitude-2.7. There are other passes but altitude is very low. Good luck!

[vc10man 732]

2 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

22:09 to 22:15 Rick. Elevation 35° and magnitude-2.7. There are other passes but altitude is very low. Good luck!

That's a better time than 22:57 last night. Thanks for that Ray.

[CYXR 257]

Next launch attempt different time, same place

3:22 p.m. EDT (19:22 GMT) Saturday May 30, from Launch Complex 39A from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. Saturday`s forecast for Cape Canaveral calls for thunderstorms in the morning but sun and clouds in the afternoon. I'm not sure about it`s flightpath/weather downrange for Saturday. 

[Luis Hernandez 570]

What are the minimums for liftoff? This is a forecast of Cocoa Beach (some few miles south of the launching pad), and I don't like it:

https://www.windguru.cz/206988

Edited May 28, 2020 by Luis Hernandez

[goates 576]

They talked a bit about it in the SpaceX live stream. It looks like the big factor in the scrub yesterday was the electrical charge in the atmosphere. Basically there was a chance the rocket itself could have triggered a lightning strike. Upper level winds and weather seemed to be okay. Then there is also the offshore weather in the case of an abort as they don’t want the capsule coming down in a tropical storm off shore, for example. Lots of points to factor in.

[CYXR 257]

2 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

What are the minimums for liftoff? This is a forecast of Cocoa Beach (some few miles south of the launching pad), and I don't like it:

https://www.windguru.cz/206988

Here's a brief description of NASA's launch commit criteria: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/649911main_051612_falcon9_weather_criteria.pdf The 45th Space Wing has land air and sea range safety requirements and there's also manufacturer ops. specs. 

[Luis Hernandez 570]

Thanks. Too specific to be able to compare with a METAR

[Bob Scott 7,720]

14 hours ago, vc10man said:

Good Morning Ray. Not a question of being suspicious of my motives, more a case of me being a victim of a mugging , etc as it's a fairly isolated spot, no passers-by, etc, and with a very expensive body and equally expensive lens, I am loathe to chance it.

Yeah, it sucks to have to hire an armed bodyguard just to take a nice camera out of the bag for a shoot...

[vc10man 732]

Luckily, managed to take a Bulb exposure this evening at it appeared around 10:12pm. Not the best Bulb exposure as I overexposed, but did manage to get a trail of it. Hope to get better tomorrow, as Bulb exposures are not my forte. And I was, touch wood, not bothered by passers-by.

[goates 576]

4 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Thanks. Too specific to be able to compare with a METAR

If you skip to the point in the SpaceX delve stream, it's still available on YouTube, they talk a bit about the weather and some of the things they are looking for. Far more to consider than what is included in local weather or METAR reports for sure.

[gsand 105]

26 year Space Coast resident here, live about 17nm south of KSC. Wednesday was a long shot for launch as early as Sunday. We had two solid days of heavy rain starting mid-day Sunday. Tuesday afternoon it turned hot (90+) and the t-storms started their usual afternoon rainy season dance across the state that we see most days till November. Wednesday morning they started up earlier than usual as it remained very warm overnight so lots of atmospheric energy still around. From about 1330z till around 1800z we had almost non-stop t-storms. They died down some after that but with the sea breeze front about 15-20nm inland from the East Coast they were firing up sporadically all over the county.

What some of you may not know is that around 3:50pm National Weather Service Melbourne issued a tornado warning for an area about 10nm north of 39A. I was really surprised that they pushed on at that point. On the local radar I could clearly see the cell moving East and since they were launching toward the Northeast and with Cumulus buildups all around the Cape I figured they would scrub right away.

Tomorrow is not looking real good right now. This is from KTIX (Space Coast Regional) Titusville, closest public airport to 39A with a TAF:

Saturday

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. South southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Hopefully they can get it off this time.

FYI, NASA Dragon launch criteria: