Totally cool

At 5:58, less than half an hour after sunset, we stood out in the front yard waiting and staring upward. Just when we were certain that we'd missed it, we saw the dim light racing across the sky and becoming brighter as it rose up from the horizon. It was amazing to watch it, knowing what it was, where it was and who was there.

It was the ISS, International Space Station, with the newly added Columbus lab from ESA, European Space Station. And the space shuttle was still docked to it. The ISS has grown so much in the last couple of years. It looks brighter each time as more elements are added. Now with Columbus...and with the shuttle still tagging along, it was huge. It was bigger and brighter than Venus...and that's very bright. And it rose up nearly overhead. We watched it down to the other horizon. As it went southwest, further around the planet from the sun, it began to fade with less sunlight shining on it. It's rare to see it for so long. Generally we have clouds or too many trees or some obstacle blocking our view. But this time it was horizon to horizon, dim, bright and dim again. It was an incredible sight, totally amazing to think of the ten people up there living and working ordinarily in a hostile environment. And it's more startling still to realize one has had a contribution to it.