The ISS (International Space Station) is starting another spell of conspicuous evening visibility over Britain, with passes continuing until Christmas. As usual, our predictions for London and Manchester for the coming week use asterisks to flag the directions in which it disappears into eclipse in the Earth’s shadow.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is due to launch the CRS-5 cargo craft from Florida to the ISS at 19:31 on Tuesday the 16th. I suspect that if the launch is postponed for a few days we may get a chance to spot CRS-5 and the upper stage of the rocket as they cross the south-west UK some 20 minutes after launch. As it is, an on-time launch on the 16th will probably mean they are invisible in eclipse during the pass.
