During the Discovery launch, there was constant visibility of the exhaust at first. After fading, Discovery flashed back into view several times. Does anyone know the cause of these pulses? After MECO, are the engines fired again for short bursts to refine the orbit? At 5:01 this morning, I just missed Mir, but did see Discovery in the NE at 20 deg elev. A much better view was at 6:36am. The sky was bright with only 1st mag stars visible, when Mir came by in the SW, 55 deg elev, about mag 1. Followed in 1/2 minute by Discovery, mag -1 or -2. I would like to have seen them during rendezvous, but this was nice anyway. Reply to: Jay.Respler@bytewise.de.com Freehold, NJ