Inspiration4 an 'Early Bird' Last Night, Lands Today

The Inspiration4 ship and crew pass beneath the bright star Altair around 8:42 p.m. Friday night, September 17. At the same time, Object-B, a rocket stage from an earlier Japanese satellite launch, crosses the same part of the sky. Bob King

Sometimes satellites and spacecraft don't show up at their predicted times. One of the main reasons this happens is when mission control decides to raise or lower the object's orbit by firing the ship's thrusters. 

Last night, unbeknownst to most, SpaceX lowered the orbit of historic Inspiration4 space capsule sometime before or during its pass over the U.S. When a spacecraft's altitude is lowered, it appears lower in the sky and moves more quickly. A faster speed also means it will arrive in view earlier than the original time. The higher the orbit the more slowly the satellite travels, the same way Earth takes more time to circle the sun compared to Mercury. 

I set up the camera a little more than 10 minutes in advance just to test out exposures in the moonlight. That's when I noticed a bright satellite in the southern sky tracking along a similar path as Inspiration4. At the same moment, another satellite strode into the frame, so I took a picture of the pair. Then I waited just like you did and saw . . . nothing. Where the heck was Inspiration4? I waited 15 minutes past the time just in case and then posed the question to a group of amateur satellite watchers. The answer arrived in a late-night email — SpaceX had fiddled with its orbit.

The International Space Station glides across the constellation Aquila the Eagle just above its brightest star Altair last night around 8:52 p.m. Central Time. Bob King

I thought it important to share this with you in case you went out to look and missed it. By the way, the space station DID show up on time and made its usual spectacular run across the sky. I hope you got to see it and the splendid conjunction of Jupiter and waxing moon. 

For U.S. observers there won't be any passes tonight because the craft and crew are expected to splash down at 6:06 p.m. Central Time (7:06 p.m. Eastern; 5:06 p.m. Mountain and 4:06 p.m. Pacific) today, September 18 in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. You can watch the landing live on YouTube.

Comments

  1. RTysonSeptember 18, 2021 at 10:51 AM

    Thank you for the update and information.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bkellyskySeptember 18, 2021 at 12:01 PM

    Ahhhh... as I thought. Wish they were going to be still up tonight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob KingSeptember 18, 2021 at 12:14 PM

      Yes, I got to see the ship . . . by accident, as you read in the blog. Too bad they weren't doing just one more night.

      Delete
    2. bkellyskySeptember 18, 2021 at 3:05 PM

      I know! it's clear here this evening! Just one more day! Good planning on your part to get out there early.

      Delete
    3. Bob KingSeptember 18, 2021 at 6:45 PM

      A bit of luck on that one, for sure.

      Delete
  3. TeresaSeptember 18, 2021 at 12:44 PM

    Thanks for the update!

    ReplyDelete

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