UPDATE  (Tuesday 11:16am):  Due to thunderstorms in the area, NASA scrubbed the launch early Tuesday morning.  The next attempt will be early Wednesday morning at 1:10am.  Look for the Shuttle to pass through our skies at approximately 1:18am.
                                                                                                                                                        

You’ll have to stay up late for this one-of-a-kind show, and it may be one of the last opportunities for you to see shuttle launch, too. 

The Space Shuttle Discovery is set to blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Tuesday morning (August 24th).  Liftoff is scheduled for 1:36am and a few minutes after liftoff, we’ll be able to see it here in Southern New England.

From Florida, it’ll be moving northeast up the eastern seaboard, dropping its booster rockets and its large external tank before rocketing across our skies.  In fact, it’ll be moving at 17 thousand miles an hour on its way to the International Space Station.

According to Brendan Hermalyn of Brown University, it’ll be very low in the horizon, but he’s hoping that we’ll be able to see the streaks of the actual engine fire on the shuttle. Look to the south-southeast at about 1:44am.  Again, it’ll be very low in the horizon, so you want to be up high or where there are no buildings or trees in the way….and binoculars will give you a better view, too. 

Brendan, who is a grad student at Brown, said that it will look like a really bright, fast moving star across the sky.

There’s only a handful of shuttles scheduled before the program loses its funding, and this is the last night launch scheduled…..

This is definitely something to see! I’ve seen it once before, and while it can’t rival being in Florida for liftoff, it’s still very cool.  I recommend a good pair of binoculars…you may be able to see the triangular shape of the shuttle.

Here’s the link to my Tuesday 6pm story: Space Shuttle

In a nutshell:

• Liftoff at 1:36am Tuesday August 24th
• Visible in our area around 1:44am
• Look to the south-southeast, low on the horizon
• Binoculars would provide a better view