Tonight and over the weekend the International Space Station, Space Shuttle Endeavor and a $100,000.00 tool bag will be flying over the Pacific Northwest. Don't forget that on this mission there is an Oregon Native aboard. Astronaut Don Pettit, he's a Silverton High School and OSU graduate. (I bet he's rooting for the beavers this weekend)

This is a important mission for the astronauts. They're fixing a broken solar panel, installing a water recycling system and doing some major remodeling. The goal is to double the stations permanent residents from 3 to 6 people.

Here on planet earth, mother nature should cooperate and let us see at least two of the weekend fly overs. I think the best viewing will be Sunday night.

the Endeavor and Space Station are in low Earth orbit, you can easily see them with the naked eye. I've found that with a good pair of binoculars you can almost make out the stations giant solar panels. Maybe with a really, really good set of binoculars you'll spot the missing tool bag:-)

The schedule above is listed for Portland, but is you go to the NASA link below you can find the time when the shuttle and space station will fly over your back yard.

Good viewing
Dave

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/sightings

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