[ATMoB-discuss] Shuttle launch article in Eagle Trib

Thu Dec 7 02:40:25 CET 2006

Hey! I just got another above-the-fold 1st page article into the Lawrence
Eagle tribune.at least the NH edition, I don't know about the MA edition.
Ist my 2nd in 1 month (must be slow news in Merrimack Valley). See below.

No.I am not writing to "blow my own horn"! I have plenty of admirers already
(I have at least Beckwith.). I am writing to encourage other ATMoB members
to do the same as me: cultivate a relationship with your local media and
then feed them story ideas well before any anticipated celestial or space
event. Once you're considered a local "subject matter expert" they'll
occasionally use your ideas and build stories around them. I didn't write
the piece: I feed them the idea, basic info, some printable "snazzy" 1
liners and suggest others they can call for corroboration. There are plenty
of local papers around here: Lowell, Nashua, Boston, Fitchburg, etc,
etc.start giving them ideas! It gets people outside who normally wouldn't
think of it. Just leave the Eagle Trib to me.

Peter

PS..find the errors. For what its worth, I didn't make them.

Shuttle will play starring role in night sky

By Courtney Paquette , Staff Writer
Eagle-Tribune

- 

Residents who step into their backyards and gaze at the sky tomorrow night
could see the space shuttle - perhaps for one of the last times.

Discovery will be launched tomorrow from the Kennedy Space Center to hook up
with the International Space Station.

Because Discovery is lifting off at night and following a flight plan that
directs it over New Hampshire, residents will be able to see the flames from
its engines between seven and eight minutes after it leaves the launch pad
at 9:35 p.m.

"You'll see a moderately fast-moving yellow star," said Peter Bealo of
Plaistow, an amateur astronomer. "It'll look like a very bright airplane."

"It should be the brightest thing in the sky, except for the moon," said
James Ryan, a physics professor at the University of New Hampshire. 

It is a rare night launch for NASA. The last one was four years ago, when
the space shuttle Columbia lifted off in the evening to work on the Hubble
telescope. 

A shuttle's launch time is determined by where it needs to be in space and
when it needs to return to Earth, Ryan said. Night launches are rare because
daytime launches allow for easier landings and access to alternative landing
sites if something goes wrong, he said.

Daytime launches also allow NASA to get better pictures of what's happening
to the shuttle. That is why night launches were halted after the Columbia
accident in 2003 that killed seven astronauts. A piece of foam broke off
during the launch and damaged the ship, causing it to break up upon re-entry
to the Earth's atmosphere. 

All those elements make this nighttime launch special, and maybe one of the
last.

"There's only another 10 to 12 shuttle launches anyhow for the whole
program," Bealo said. "On average, there's one night launch out of eight or
10."

After liftoff, Discovery begins a 12-day mission to rendezvous with and work
on the International Space Station, according to David McDonald, education
director at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord. Discovery's crew
will install solar panels on the space station, which is supposed to be
completed by 2010. That's when NASA plans to decommission the shuttle fleet.

Discovery also will swap one crew member, he said.

The launch, Bealo said, could be scrubbed because of bad weather. Yesterday,
NASA said the chances of weather favorable for a launch were 70 percent.

Good weather, clear skies and a view of a flat southern horizon are key to
seeing the launch from spots in New Hampshire, Bealo said. He invites others
to come to Timberlane Regional High School and watch it from the fields
behind the school with him.

"This is your tax dollars at work," Bealo said. "Might as well take a look
at it."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

For the viewing audience

* Make sure to be outside seven minutes after the launch at 9:35 p.m. That's
when the flames from the shuttle's engines will be visible.

* Using binoculars will allow you to see the shuttle for another 30 minutes.

* Looking to the south in an area where there are few trees and little
artificial light will provide for optimum viewing. Good places to see the
shuttle include Timberlane Regional High School athletic field, Hampton
Beach, and Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, Mass.

* Those who would rather "fly" the space shuttle can visit the Christa
McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord. The planetarium has a flight simulator
that mimics flying the space shuttle Discovery.