Follow the flight of the final space shuttle

Weather permitting Utahans will have two excellent chances of seeing space shuttle Endeavour attached to the International Space Station this coming weekend.

The morning of Saturday the 28th look for the duo to rise in the SW at 05:05, to be high in the SE at 05:07 and to fade from view low in the NE at 05:10.

The next morning, Sunday the 29th look for them to rise in the SW at 05:27 to be half way up the NW at 05:30 and to fade out low in the NE at 05:33.

Unlike evening passes where satellites are typically faint at first and then brighten as they move across the sky, the upcoming morning passes will have Endeavour and ISS bright early on and then become progressively dimmer.

Endeavour is carrying an experiment built by students at Salt Lake City’s Highland High School.  The purpose of the experiment is to study the effects of microgravity on frog embryos.

This is Endeavour’s 25th and final flight.  By the end of this mission Endeavour will have spent nearly 300 days on orbit during which time it will have traveled nearly 200 million kilometers through space.

Go Endeavour!

— Patrick Wiggins

NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador to Utah