Photo courtesy of James E. Byrd 1995
Predictions for visible transits of Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-73 over southeastern Virginia. Columbia will appear as a bright fast moving object across the sky in less than 3 minutes. Columbia's brilliance is dependent upon reflected light from the sun and will generally be about as bright as the brighter stars against a dark pre-sunrise sky. Experience on Sunday (29th) and Monday (30th) has shown that Columbia will illuminate during the transit by moving eastward out of earth's shadow. The payload bay is facing the sun so Columbia is brilliant at first and then fades quickly as it passes tangent to your location. The average altitude above ground for the mission is about 270 km, or 167 statute miles.
(STS-73 Columbia) Sunday, 10/29/95. A west to east transit from 5:29 to 5:31 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the southeastern sky at 5:29, about 75 degrees above the horizon.
(Results) - Columbia entered sunrise in the constellation Orion and was momentarily brighter than the star Sirus. Columbia quickly faded as it passed tangent to our location. I later learned the payload bay was oriented toward the sun for a quick warmup of instruments in the payload bay, and thus no reflective surfaces were visible after the tangential pass. The photo above was published with an article in the local section of the Newport News Daily Press on Friday November 3, 1995.
(STS-73 Columbia) Monday, 10/30/95. A west to east transit from 5:24 to 5:27 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the northwestern sky at 5:25, about 68 degrees above the horizon.
(Results) - Columbia exited earthüs shadow in the western sky about 70 degrees above the horizon and quickly faded as it passed overhead.
(STS-73 Columbia) Tuesday, 10/31/95. A west to east transit from 5:21 to 5:24 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the northwestern sky at 5:22, about 62 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 266 km.
(Results) - Overcast with rain.
(STS-73 Columbia) Wednesday, 11/01/95. A west to east transit from 5:18 to 5:20 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the northern sky at 5:19, about 52 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 265 km.
(Results) - Overcast with rain.
(Advisory) - Unfavorable illumination angles may make further observations difficult. Columbia will likely exit earthüs shadow eastward of our location and thus not be particularly brilliant since the white payload bay and doors are generally facing the sun.
(STS-73 Columbia) Thursday, 11/02/95. A west to east transit from 5:15 to 5:17 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the northern sky at 5:16, about 50 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 265 km.
(Results) - Overcast.
(STS-73 Columbia) Friday, 11/03/95. A west to east transit from 5:11 to 5:13 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the northern sky at 5:12, about 54 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 265 km.
(Results) - Not seen.
(STS-73 Columbia) Saturday, 11/04/95. A west to east transit from 5:08 to 5:10 a.m. Peak elevation will occur in the northern sky at 5:09, about 67 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 264 km.
(Results) - Not seen.
Landing occurred on the morning of November 5th at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.