Lots of chances to spot space station overhead
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Updated: July 09, 2009 10:36 AM
Sky watchers are being treated to good views of the International Space Station this month.
The ISS – with New Westminster-born Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk aboard for a six-month mission – will sometimes be the brightest object as it zips across the sky.
Thirsk blasted off last month aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.
He brought into orbit a B.C. treat – smoked salmon from Saltspring Island – and shared it with the other astronauts on Canada Day.
Thirsk, 55, is a doctor and mechanical engineer who serves as the medical officer and robotics specialist aboard the ISS.
The mission will make him the longest serving Canadian in space.
The 110-metre-long space station orbits Earth every 90 minutes and typically rises from the west and sets in the east.
See below for current sighting times for Metro Vancouver.
Video: Thirsk in orbit
New Westminster-born astronaut Bob Thirsk explains one of the experiments aboard the International Space Station.
Viewing times for ISS and shuttle from Metro Vancouver
Click here to view times for other B.C. locations.
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