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8 July 2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 5 Jul 2003

Part 2 of 2

Today's CEO targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude
and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial
locations, were Wimbledon, Great Britain (opportunity may present
itself between clouds. Wimbledon lies in SW London and should be
detectable as one of the largest green parklands in the city, due
south of the largest bends of the River Thames), Tigris-Euphrates,
Turkey (nadir pass over the center of this development area. Looking
left for new dam developments), Baghdad, Iraq (nadir pass [115 deg
Fahrenheit on the ground today]), Hanging Gardens of Babylon (nadir
pass. The Greek geographer Strabo, described the gardens of Semiramis
in first century BC: "It consists of vaulted terraces raised one
above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow
and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be
planted. The ascent to the highest story is by stairs, and at their
side are water engines, by means of which persons, appointed
expressly for the purpose, are continually employed in raising water
from the Euphrates into the garden."), Kuwait City, Kuwait (nadir
pass), Lisbon, Portugal (nadir pass), Angolan Biomass Burning
(oblique views left [and right?] should have revealed an intensifying
plume of aerosols emanating from the subcontinent, as one of the
earliest burning seasons progresses), Industrialized SE Africa (cold
winter weather is holding aerosols near the ground. Looking left
towards the industrial Witwatersrand metropolis), Fort Mandan, ND
(LEWIS & CLARK SITE: This is where the expedition spent the winter of
1804-5. The site is near the present town of Stanton. Looking a touch
right of track and south of the large reservoir, Lake Sacagawea.
Stanton is on the west bank of the Missouri near the point where it
turns sharply from south to east), and Pomeroy, WA LEWIS & CLARK
SITE: Looking a touch left on the south side of the Snake River
[within the second bend of the river upstream of its confluence with
the Columbia River]). CEO images can be viewed at the websites 

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
See also the website "Space Station Challenge" at
http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:27am EDT [= epoch]):

Mean altitude -- 387.1 km
Apogee -- 392.5 km
Perigee -- 381.7 km
Period -- 92.30 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0007971
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.60
Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 95 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98) -- 26385
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html

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