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Look up in the skies tonight - you might see spacemen...


NIGHT owl Wirral residents wondering what's twinkling in the skies tonight can rest easy.

It's not aliens, but it IS spacemen - as the crew of space shuttle Discovery carry out work on the International Space Station miles above the earth.

Globe reader Thelma Cowan was letting her cat out at 3am this morning when she noticed strange lights in the sky.

"I wondered if it was the police helicopter at first but there wasn't any noise and it was too far away," she said.

"I knew it wasn't anything sinister but it was very bright and really twinkly.

"My husband rang the Roy Basnett show on City Talk 105.9FM and asked them if they'd had anyone else in contact about it, and they had.

"They told us it was the space shuttle docked at the space station, so we checked the Nasa website and sure enough it is!

"It's not something you see very often so if it's a clear night again tonight we'll stay up and look out again," Thelma, from Ellesmere Port, said.

"It's all quite exciting really, to think of that work going on all that way above our heads.

"I just hope other people get the opportunity to see it."

Nasa says the 13-day STS-119 mission is to deliver to the international space station the final set of solar arrays needed to complete its complement of electricity-generating solar panels, and through them support the station's expanded crew of six in 2009.

Later on today the crew is due to take part in a live TV link-up with the President of the United States, Barack Obama.

You can learn more about the mission by clicking on the Nasa link at the top right hand side of this story.

THE WIRRAL GLOBE

yeah someone take pictures i dont plan on been up at 3am lol

if im awake at that time, and its clear enough, i might take some

did anyone take a pix?

It was pouring down and blowing a gale - might have cleaned the lens but no way could I take a picture.

no worries can we still see it btw