How technology helps the space race

"One small step for man, one giant leap forward in interest in space in the Birss household." Commander Chris Hadfield who is currently in charge of the International Space Station has been tweeting pictures back to earth several times a day with a little comment for each one. My wife has been regaling me with stories and pictures and so now I took my leap forward and followed him on Twitter as well.
Rarely have I looked up and taken time to appreciate the wonders of the night sky but with the joy of the ipad, I downloaded ISS tracking software which shows that space station flies round the world in a never ending series of Sine waves ( that's the mathematician in me) doing a complete circumnavigation in roughly 90 minutes. The software shows the time that the shuttle will become visible, for how many minutes and the quality of  visibility.
What it doesn't take into consideration is the cloud cover that prevents any views at all. There we were, my entire family out in the garden on Saturday and Sunday night (having put the t.v. on live pause) trying to see anything through the cloudy haze.
My wife downloaded nightsky software which gives you a matching picture of the the stars, labeled as you hold the ipad up into the dark......with a suitable "spacey" soundtrack.
Tonight the sky was clear as I looked up to see a quarter moon. At first we couldn't see anything as the expected space station was hidden by the trees.
Then it appeared above the house next door, bright and moving at pace below the moon.  It passed between the moon and what my wife now knowingly informed me was Jupiter, and stayed visible for 6 minutes as it passed above us.
Thank you Commander Hadfield for making us ground dwellers feel that for  a few moments that we too could reach for the stars.