How to Predict Sighting Opportunities for Shuttle Landings

One of our long-time Flight Dynamics Officers, Bill Tracy, developed a program that makes it easy to predict space shuttle or space station sightings. The Skywatch mini-application lets you select the spacecraft you want to see, and then pick your location on the ground by city or zip code. Because it uses the latest tracking data from Mission Control, Skywatch can even predict sighting opportunities for shuttles that are racing overhead toward landing.To use the mini-application, go to:Human Spaceflight Website Sighting OpportunitiesThen click on “START APPLET” pointed out by the Rainbow-colored arrow shown on this screen shot.SkyWatch 2.0 AppletNext, under “SATELLITE,” you’ll need to select the landing opportunity orbit number, in this case the arrow is pointing to our first opportunity in Florida.SkyWatch 2.0 AppletThen, select your city from the list, or select your zip code, or zoom in by clicking on the map of your state.SkyWatch 2.0 AppletFor example, here’s what the sightings chart for Wichita, Kansas, would look like for our first Kennedy Space Center landing opportunity Monday morning.Shuttle Entry Sighting