File:KSC-05-S-00200 (ksc 071005 114 hire-16).webm

English: MS. STILSON: Last question. Jayson from Samarra writes, being stationed in Iraq, does the Shuttle ever cross over Iraq and is it possible that troops on the ground could spot the Shuttle in the sky? MS. HIRE: Oh, definitely. As it turns out, with the International Space Station that's orbiting the Earth all the time is in an inclination. The orbit's inclination is at 51.6 degrees. So that means that it's visible over the ground from 51.6 degrees north, 51.6 degrees south. And you can actually go on a website and see when it will be visible in your local area. What happens is, it's flying over all the time, but in the middle of the day, you can't see the International Space Station because it's too bright of a background. The sunshine is going to kind of wash it out. And at night, there's nothing lighting it up, so it's dark. But there is a very short period of time that just before sunrise, the Space Station or Space Shuttle will be up so high that the Sun's already shining on it and lighting it up while it's still dark on the ground. If it happens to fly over you at that time, you will be able to see it. The same thing in the evening, if it's already dark on the ground where you are, but the Space Station, Space Shuttle is so high up that the sun happens to still be shining on it, you can still see it for a short period of time before it goes off into the dark. But it doesn't happen everyday for each location. So what you have to do is, you go on to the web -- and we'll have the website for you soon, put it up on this website -- and look up the nearest city. There's a listing of satellite sighting information by city and pick out your nearest city and it will tell you when and where to look, how far off the horizon and what angle. As it turns out, for Baghdad, there is a very, very short sighting that's coming up on Sunday, July 17th, at 10:14 p. m. It's going to be very short, less than a minute in duration. And the reason is, it's going to be at 44 degrees above the northwest horizon. It will just appear as the Sun's shining on it but it's dark on the ground and all of a sudden, it's going to go out like somebody just flipped out the light switch. And the reason is, because this is the International Space Station, is that it's going to just transition into the dark. So that's going to be a good one to see. But also just look on that website to see other opportunities to view the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. And for those folks lucky enough to go and have sighting opportunity when the Space Shuttle is getting close to rendezvousing and docking with International Space Station, you may actually be able to see both of them in the sky at the same time. MS. STILSON: Wow. That's great information. Well, by the way, we want to let the viewers know that the web address will be given again at the end of the show. Kay, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure having you on the webcast. MS. HIRE: Thank you.