They're out there! :(

So, we're out walking the dog.....about forty minutes ago. It's
dark.....not quite totally dark, but getting close. We get off the bike
trail at the school and I see a rotund little figure approaching us at a
high speed waddle down the middle of the street.....and it's mumbling
something incoherent. Oh, great thinks I (it ain't the worst neighborhood
in the world......but it ain't the best either). The figure closes the
distance rapidly and I catch an occasional word....."one minute.....better
hurry.....it's coming."

Well, thinks I, Cullen's got a bum flipper, but Becky is tall, she can get a
foot up two feet over her head and she's wicked fast, and I've got a six
foot long cherry stick......how ugly can it get?

"Hurry!" he says.

Huh?

It's coming over in about two minutes!

What is?

The ISS!

What's an ISS?

The International Space Station!

Oh? Where? Hey, Becky.....c'mere, this may be good.

It always comes out of the northwest....should be about a minute or
tw.....THERE IT IS!

Well, I be go ta hell (there it was!).

Wow, he says, that may be brighter than Venus!

Mmmmm.....nah, at least as bright as Jupiter, though.

Oh yeah, at LEAST as bright as Jupiter!

We chatted for a bit as we watched it zoom above our heads.....FAST!

It makes about 12 orbits per hour, he offers.

Hm......nope, that doesn't make sense.....that'd be once every five
minutes.....ain't moving THAT fast.

Oh.....no......sorry....about eighteen orbits per day.

Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

How high is it? I asked.

About 125 kilometers.

And how fast is it moving?

About 18,000 mph.

Pretty soon it's going to wink out as it gets in the Earth's shadow.....I'm
glad I got here in time.....my friend just called me a couple of minutes
ago.

Sure enough, less than a minute later it suddenly got dimmer and then faded
out over the course of three or four seconds just before it would have been
obscured by the only cloud visible in the southeast.

Cool.

WAY cool!

I was looking up all this time so I can't be sure.....but I think he was
wearing a pocket protector and taped up glasses.

Crazy people can be very interesting sometimes.

Wolfgang

On Sat, 6 May 2006 21:46:31 -0500, "Wolfgang" wrote:

So, we're out walking the dog.....about forty minutes ago. It's
dark.....not quite totally dark, but getting close. We get off the bike
trail at the school and I see a rotund little figure approaching us at a
high speed waddle down the middle of the street.....and it's mumbling
something incoherent. Oh, great thinks I (it ain't the worst neighborhood
in the world......but it ain't the best either). The figure closes the
distance rapidly and I catch an occasional word....."one minute.....better
hurry.....it's coming."

Well, thinks I, Cullen's got a bum flipper, but Becky is tall, she can get a
foot up two feet over her head and she's wicked fast, and I've got a six
foot long cherry stick......how ugly can it get?

"Hurry!" he says.

Huh?

It's coming over in about two minutes!

What is?

The ISS!

What's an ISS?

The International Space Station!

Oh? Where? Hey, Becky.....c'mere, this may be good.

It always comes out of the northwest....should be about a minute or
tw.....THERE IT IS!

Well, I be go ta hell (there it was!).

Wow, he says, that may be brighter than Venus!

Mmmmm.....nah, at least as bright as Jupiter, though.

Oh yeah, at LEAST as bright as Jupiter!

We chatted for a bit as we watched it zoom above our heads.....FAST!

It makes about 12 orbits per hour, he offers.

Hm......nope, that doesn't make sense.....that'd be once every five
minutes.....ain't moving THAT fast.

Oh.....no......sorry....about eighteen orbits per day.

Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

How high is it? I asked.

About 125 kilometers.

And how fast is it moving?

About 18,000 mph.

Pretty soon it's going to wink out as it gets in the Earth's shadow.....I'm
glad I got here in time.....my friend just called me a couple of minutes
ago.

Sure enough, less than a minute later it suddenly got dimmer and then faded
out over the course of three or four seconds just before it would have been
obscured by the only cloud visible in the southeast.

Cool.

WAY cool!

I was looking up all this time so I can't be sure.....but I think he was
wearing a pocket protector and taped up glasses.

Crazy people can be very interesting sometimes.

Wolfgang


I've seen the ISS flyover, it is indeed quite cool.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Click on the Sighting Opportunities link to find an overflight near you...

/daytripper

"daytripper" wrote in message
...

I've seen the ISS flyover, it is indeed quite cool.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Click on the Sighting Opportunities link to find an overflight near you...

/daytripper

Thanks, Dave. Our interlocutor mentioned that there is a website we could
use to determine sighting opportunities but didn't say anything more about
it. I was just about to begin searching.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:
"daytripper" wrote in message
...

I've seen the ISS flyover, it is indeed quite cool.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Click on the Sighting Opportunities link to find an overflight near you...

/daytripper


Thanks, Dave. Our interlocutor mentioned that there is a website we could
use to determine sighting opportunities but didn't say anything more about
it. I was just about to begin searching.

Wolfgang

You should seriously consider this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:

http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rw" wrote in message
.net...
Wolfgang wrote:
"daytripper" wrote in message
...

I've seen the ISS flyover, it is indeed quite cool.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Click on the Sighting Opportunities link to find an overflight near
you...

/daytripper


Thanks, Dave. Our interlocutor mentioned that there is a website we
could use to determine sighting opportunities but didn't say anything
more about it. I was just about to begin searching.

Wolfgang

You should seriously consider this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:

http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

Well, heck, that's an almost clever website......missed it by just THIS
much.

Say, you ever wonder how life might be different if you were capable of
doing or saying something clever yourself?

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

Say, you ever wonder how life might be different if you were capable of
doing or saying something clever yourself?

One can only aspire to your lofty standard.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

On Sat, 6 May 2006 21:46:31 -0500, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

So, we're out walking the dog.....about forty minutes ago. It's
dark.....not quite totally dark, but getting close. We get off the bike
trail at the school and I see a rotund little figure approaching us at a
high speed waddle down the middle of the street.....and it's mumbling
something incoherent. Oh, great thinks I (it ain't the worst neighborhood
in the world......but it ain't the best either). The figure closes the
distance rapidly and I catch an occasional word....."one minute.....better
hurry.....it's coming."

Well, thinks I, Cullen's got a bum flipper, but Becky is tall, she can get a
foot up two feet over her head and she's wicked fast, and I've got a six
foot long cherry stick......how ugly can it get?

"Hurry!" he says.

Huh?

It's coming over in about two minutes!

What is?

The ISS!

What's an ISS?

The International Space Station!

Oh? Where? Hey, Becky.....c'mere, this may be good.

It always comes out of the northwest....should be about a minute or
tw.....THERE IT IS!

Well, I be go ta hell (there it was!).

Wow, he says, that may be brighter than Venus!

Mmmmm.....nah, at least as bright as Jupiter, though.

Oh yeah, at LEAST as bright as Jupiter!

We chatted for a bit as we watched it zoom above our heads.....FAST!

It makes about 12 orbits per hour, he offers.

Hm......nope, that doesn't make sense.....that'd be once every five
minutes.....ain't moving THAT fast.

Oh.....no......sorry....about eighteen orbits per day.

Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

How high is it? I asked.

About 125 kilometers.

And how fast is it moving?

About 18,000 mph.

Pretty soon it's going to wink out as it gets in the Earth's shadow.....I'm
glad I got here in time.....my friend just called me a couple of minutes
ago.

Sure enough, less than a minute later it suddenly got dimmer and then faded
out over the course of three or four seconds just before it would have been
obscured by the only cloud visible in the southeast.

Cool.

WAY cool!

I was looking up all this time so I can't be sure.....but I think he was
wearing a pocket protector and taped up glasses.

Crazy people can be very interesting sometimes.

Wolfgang



Yep, the ISS is very, very cool to see.


g.c.

And it can be very interesting to *be* a crazy person sometimes. But
sometinmes it just sucks.

"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...


Yep, the ISS is very, very cool to see.


g.c.

And it can be very interesting to *be* a crazy person sometimes. But
sometinmes it just sucks.

Yeah, sometimes it sucks......but sometimes it can be very interesting.


You got a weekend free sometime soon? I got a smallmouth Jones that just
won't quit.

Wolfgang