The ISS (brighter trail on the right) closely followed by the space shuttle.

Just watched footage of the shuttle Atlantis take off which reminded me of some interesting pictures I took last summer of the space shuttle and the International Space Station orbiting above Biescas.

I’d seen that they were due to pass over that evening about the time they were due to dock. I was amazed to see the ISS rise above the horizon closely followed by the space shuttle. The shuttle was visibly catching up as they passed over and they docked about half an hour later. They remained docked for several days, adding additional components and changing astronauts.

The ISS is easy to spot in the night sky – particularly for passes soon after sunset when the station reflects a lot of light off it’s ever increasing bank of solar panels. The heavens above website gives an excellent schedule for visisble space station passes at your location. Here’s the predictions for Biescas.