Predicted opportunities for viewing the US Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-63 and the near-rendezvous with Mir based upon Discovery flight data and the unaltered orbit of the Russian Space Station Mir. These are view events in the southeastern Virginia area for the week of February 2-6, 1995:
Viewing Mir and Discovery in orbit together will likely show Discovery as the brighter object since the Shuttle has more "white area" to reflect sunlight than Mir. There is a likely possibility of faintly observing the SPARTAN free flying payload in the proximity of Discovery on Tuesday.
(Mir/Discovery) Monday, 02/06/95, from 06:35:56 to 06:38:13 a.m. A northwest to southeast transit of azimuth range 309-118 degrees. Peak will occur in the northeastern sky at an azimuth of 030 degrees at 06:37:01 a.m., at an elevation of 78 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 391 km.
Result - Mir and Discovery were observed in close proximity at 06:35, day 4 of mission STS-63. Discovery reflected twice the sunlight of Mir, and was trailing by about 30 seconds. Near-rendevzous manouvers (37 feet separation) were conducted later in the day.
(Mir) Tuesday, 02/07/95, from 05:39:45 to 05:40:45 a.m. A north to northeast transit of azimuth range 002-057 degrees. Peak will occur in the northeastern sky at an azimuth of 027 degrees at 05:40:15 a.m., at an elevation of 32 degrees above the horizon. Orbital altitude 391 km.
Result - Mir and Discovery were observed in close proximity at 05:39, day 5 of mission STS-63. Discovery had completed manouvers in the proximity of Mir and had altered orbit to an altitude 2 km less (390 km) than that of Mir (392 km). Discovery was leading Mir by about 3 seconds and translating ahead with a shorter orbital period. The SPARTAN free flying payload was released later that afternoon.
Cloudy weather in southeastern Virginia prevented further observations for the remainder of Discovery Mission STS-63.