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Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off to orbit from Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B, on the 3rd of February 1995, 12:22 AM EST (5:22 GMT). The flight of STS-63 saw several firsts in the space program. The first woman shuttle pilot, the first Shuttle/Mir rendezvous, and the first flight of a Russian Cosmonaut aboard the Shuttle. The Spartan 204 mission was carried out on this flight as well. All of these aspects of STS-63 may be further explored by following the handy links provided. Discovery landed safely at Kennedy Space Center, Runway 15, on 11 February 1995 at 6:51 AM EST (11:50 GMT). Total flight duration: 8 days 6 hours 29 minutes. |
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During a biographical TV program about STS-63 Shuttle pilot Eileen Collins (left), aired on The Discovery Wings channel ( Cable TV - Channel Now Defunct ), I noticed that in one film segment shot through a window of Mir Space Station, an U.F.O. was seen in the vicinity of Shuttle Discovery. This event we will address shortly, but first a few photos from the flight, OK? |
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| This group of smiling faces are the crew of STS-63, getting together for a "family photo" whilst on orbit. |  |
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This is a photo taken by the crew of STS-63 during their rendezvous, and fly-around, of Space Station Mir. This is how Mir was configured in Feburary 1995. Shuttle Discovery managed to overcome malfunctioning RCS jets, and cautious Russian flight controllers, to come within approximately 40 feet (12 metres) of the orbiting platform. |
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(NASA Photo) |
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| As
Discovery approached close to Mir, Cosmonaut
Valeri Polyakov peeks out through a porthole. This man, a medical
doctor, holds the record for the longest flight in space by a human to
date. On this particular flight aboard Mir, he was 437 days in space!
That's well over a year folks. His total time in space is 679 days, amounting
to nearly two years. |
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(NASA Photo) |
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This view of the Spartan research satellite was taken by the crew of STS-63 as it flew free on its 40 hour mission. This device was recovered, stowed in the payload bay, and returned to Earth. Now we move on to the anomalous encounter which took place on this mission, during the rendezvous with Space Station Mir. |
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(NASA Photo) |
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| We see in this still frame that the anomaly emerges, apparently, from beneath Discovery. |
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| The object has pulled away just a bit, and has halted. This is where it remained, rock steady in position, until the scene was changed by the television producer. Now we will inspect three animated GIFs captured from the original TV program. |
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Here we have an animated GIF in which the video clip has been zoomed in 250% on Discovery and the anomaly. Please note that the object seems to come out from UNDER Discovery, move away just a little, and come to a complete STOP! This is not the behavior of ice, or debris. It has also been taken into account that this event was filmed with a hand-held camera through a window by a Cosmonaut aboard the Mir Space Station. Since the object is obviously moving independently of the small movements caused by the camera operator, it can be surmised that it is not a reflection in the window. In addition, some may claim that this is dust or debris within the station, seen between camera and window glass. IF that were the case, what caused the object to Stop? Dust motes do NOT have brakes! We can also safely assume that this object is not celestial in nature. Astronomical objects do not maneuver as this object does. They describe a smooth arc across the heavens, accelerated by the 17,500 mile per hour (28,000 km/h) velocity of Shuttles and Stations on orbit. Due to the fact that the producers of the television program did not include exact date and time for this film clip, we cannot pin down the exact time of day, angle of the Sun, or the relative angle of the space craft to Earth. |
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The same zoom-in with colors reversed to enhance the object. |
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| An embossed version of the 250% zoom. The anomaly really stands out now. Just imagine how the camera operator aboard Mir must have felt witnessing this object near Discovery for himself. Would that we had seen more of the original film, so that we might have watched what it did after the "cut", eh? *** At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.
© 2005 Jeff Challender
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