How to Spot SpaceX Dragon CRS-2 (SpX-2) Flyover

A couple sites are providing overhead tracking information about SpaceX Dragon CRS-2, which includes information for possible sightings. I'm still not sure if it will be visible or not, but it's worth a shot as the capsule flies away from the sunset on the evening of March 2, 2013.

Screenshot from n2yo.com on March 1, 2013 at 8:20pm EST

Both n2yo.com and NASA Skywatch have sighting information for the SpaceX Dragon CRS-2 capsule. I found n2yo.com to be a little more helpful (and optimistic) about my sighting chances.

A glitch with the thruster pods made it unlikely that the capsule would reach the ISS on the planned date of March 2 (source). With engineers currently planning a new rendezvous orbit, you may only get one chance to see the capsule before berthing. At this point it looks like the capsule will dock some time on Sunday, March 3, 2013 (See original Mission Timeline)

The sites will update as minor changes to the orbit are made, but so far it looks like you may only get one chance to see the capsule before docking to the station (unless there are more delays prior to March 3).

Screenshot from n2yo.com, tentative Dragon CRS-2 sighting predictions. I crossed out March 11 because the capsule will presumably have docked well before then.

Screenshot from n2yo.com, tentative Dragon CRS-2 sighting predictions for March 2, 2013.

In Bowling Green, Ohio, it looks like I might have one slim chance to spot it tomorrow. However, since sunset at my location isn't until 6:26pm and the flyover goes from 6:25pm-6:29pm, I doubt I will see anything at all (not to mention the clouds!). Oh well, it's still sorta cool knowing when it will be flying overhead, even if it is classified as a "barely visible" pass.

My regular go-to satellite tracking site, Heavens-Above, doesn't have Dragon listed at the time of this post. Major bummer!

Stubbornly anticipating a cloudy ISS / Dragon C2+ flyover

On Tuesday night we had clear skies, and I had planned to photograph the SpaceX Dragon capsule chasing down the International Space Station at a time when both crafts would have been visible in the same shot - it looked pretty impressive in my mind. The pass was going to occur at around 4:20am, so I set my alarm for 3:45am. The next thing I remember is waking up at 5:15am, checking the time, and realizing I must have turned my alarm off in my sleep (although Chris distinctly remembers being woken up by my alarm).

Fast forward to tonight and we have poor weather conditions that look like they're only going to get worse. I've been watching a row of thunderstorms roll in for the past 5 hours, hoping that they would either speed up or slow down because they look to be on track for squatting over Bowling Green at precisely the time of the flyover.

A depressing weather map from AccuWeather.com

There are several reasons I feel compelled to press on in spite of the clouds. I'm frustrated that I missed my opportunity to see Dragon two nights ago, I am encouraged by a photo of the ISS through the fog, and I'm excited because I've never seen the ISS flyover before and I hear it is pretty cool (and bright enough to be seen through a thin layer of clouds perhaps).

I'm using an app called Satellite Tracker () after visiting the NASA Human Space Flight tracker page and being confused by the directions. The NASA page gives the degrees (azimuth) at different periods, and the azimuth at rise and set, but for some reason I find the top-down image on the Satellite Tracker app to be much easier to visualize.

I'm heading out at 3:30am to point my camera northeast for 45 minutes to see what happens. Maybe I'll get lucky and catch Dragon through a hole in the clouds, or maybe the ISS will be bright enough to shine through. Maybe I won't see anything at all, but at least I won't be left wondering when I wake up in the morning even more frustrated.