Really Cool

Stacie and I watched the space shuttle / ISS cross over Atlanta early Thursday evening. I had heard on the news that it would be visible coming out of the SW around 6:10 PM. The sky was clear, so we braved the cold and went out on the back deck to look for it. Stacie asked me how would would know if we were really seeing it. I told her, "you'll know." We spotted a bright light coming towards us with no blinking lights and thought that was it, but as it got closer, we could see the green and red lights. A few moments later they became visible. What we saw was about twice the size as Venus and pretty bright. It tracked across the sky and we headed to the front yard to watch it as it passed over our fair city. It was really cool to see. It was the first time I have ever seen anything in space that was man made. Atlanta is especially proud of this mission since three of the astronauts have degrees from Ga Tech. The pilot is from the next town over from ours. I found a good link for observing dates in the future at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/skywatch.cgi?country=United+States. It looks like we should be able to see it again tomorrow a little before 6PM.