If you follow me on Twitter you may have picked up the occasional burst of Tweets related to the current Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

As it is the last flight of the Discovery Shuttle, quite a lot of it is being broadcast live via the NASA TV channel online, and by excellent coincidence, the shuttle/ISS will fly directly over London during the mission.

Sadly, the weather forecast means it is probably going to be too cloudy to see them from the ground. If it is clear enough – look for a bright star moving at a steady, rapid rate over London in a straight line going West to East. Can be difficult to be sure you are looking at the Space Shuttle/ISS and not just a high-flying plane at times, but I usually manage to get the right “star” on the occasions that it is visible from London.

Presuming the weather is bad – then it may be possible to look down from the Space Station and see London from space instead!

The NASA TV channel can usually be found here (or go to their home page and search for nasa to find the latest feed), and there is the possibility that their down-pointing cameras will be switched on just as it flies right over London.

Which could be quite a novel experience!

The map of the flypasts over the next four days are below – sourced from N2YO

A flypast over London typically takes about 4 minutes, and all four flypasts are classed as excellent visibility (clouds permitting), although the one on the 28th might be a bit too faint to see the “star” in the sky.

For my personal “squeal of delight” – tomorrow’s route over London is actually a mere 20 yards south of my flat, so give or take a bit of wobble, it could fly right over my head!



Webcam chat at Ustream