Through binoculars I was easily able to discern a dim vaporous stream, or 'tail,' that seemed to arc forward of its direction of travel, then sweep backward, as though caught by a breeze. This was very different from the triangular cloud I observed with my naked eye yesterday. Today's vapor trail seemed much longer than what I saw yesterday, undoubtedly because of the binoculars. Gordon Garradd took the following photograph during the STS-85 mission in August 1997. The plume was about 10 degrees ahead of the shuttle.
Discovery is to the lower right of the frame in each of the attached pictures.
Another observation on the morning of Aug 10 was very spectacular in the dark morning sky with the plume about 30 degrees long and 1-2 degrees wide. He provided estimated times for the water dumps that periodically occur during a mission. Paul Maley , who is an experienced satellite observer, has produced an excellent web site on satellite observing. The other objects below are stars.