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STS-75 The "Tether Incident" DVDs Now Available At Project P.R.O.V.E.!

Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Launch Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, on 22 February 1996, at 2:18 PM CST (8:18 GMT). Thus began the flight of STS-75. The primary purpose of this mission was to experiment with the "Tethered Satellite System" (TSS-1R) which was being flown for the second time on STS-75. A problem developed with the tether cable connecting the orbiting satellite with Columbia, and subsequently the cable snapped in two. Unfortunately, the satellite itself was irretrievably lost. This incident is what led to all the conjecture over "U.F.O.s" surrounding the broken tether. The crew also performed a number of other experiments whilst on orbit.

Columbia landed at Kennedy Space Center, runway 33, on 9 March 1996 at 7:59 AM CST (13:59 GMT). Total flight duration: 15 days 17 hours 41 minutes. This was one of the longest Shuttle flights on record.

There is a great deal of webspace devoted to the now famous STS-75 "Tether Incident" The offered website is just an example. We at Project P.R.O.V.E. do NOT associate ourselves with the conclusions drawn by the proprietors. For our purposes here, we will dispense with going into detail about the many claims. Suffice it to say, many believe the video to show large objects passing BEHIND the tether at many miles in distance from the camera.

There are several reasons why this just isn't so, however. Chief amongst them is the necessary size of the objects. IF they do indeed pass behind the tether at the specified distance, it would mean that the objects were MILES in diameter. As such, they would have to have been visible from the ground even in broad daylight. The fact that there were no reports of gigantic disks seen above the atmosphere from anywhere on the globe that day tends to lend credence to the theory that the "giants" simply weren't there at all.

	The Italian built satellite which was connected to the tether. Andy Ellis, of Yorkshire UFO Info, has provided us with some very interesting still frames from the STS-75 video footage. We will let him take over from here.
(NASA Photo)
Many things have been said of the STS 75 Tether footage, and the main point has been how these "things" pass behind the tether.......well I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about the footage, as I feel these few pics will speak for themselves. ANDY ELLIS - DIRECTOR YORKSHIRE UFO INFO

	Here we can see the "Airy Disk" approaching the Tether.

	Getting even closer.

	The "Airy Disk" has moved over the Tether and not behind.

	These last few shots give you a clear image of the "Airy Disk" moving in front of the Tether...

	*Do YOU see that the object moved in FRONT* of the tether?**

Andy Ellis has completed his case. Jeff Challender has a little more.


	This view from the docking ring camera, aboard another Shuttle flight during rendezvous with ISSy, shows us the International Space Station passing IN FRONT OF the cross hairs! No, not really. The staion is not passing before the cross hairs; this is an optical illusion created by the camera itself.

	The above still frame, from a routine water dump during STS-114, is an excellent example of an ice chip seen by the camera as an Airy Disk. It is so close to the lens that it's out of focus. It has a "hole" in the center, and notches in the edge. This is precisely what was mistaken for "miles wide" space ships in the STS-75 Tether footage.
We believe that our case proves beyond reasonable doubt that the objects seen during the "tether incident" were little more than ice and / or debris in close range to the Shuttle payload bay camera. Airy Disk The image of a bright point object as focused by a lens system. With monochromatic light, it consists of a central point of maximum intensity surrounded by alternate circles of light and darkness caused by the reinforcement and interference of diffracted rays. The light areas are called maxima and the dark areas minima. The distribution of light from the center to the outer areas of the figure was investigated mathematically by Sir George Airy. The diffraction disk forms a basis for determining the resolving power of an ideal lens system. The diameter of the disk depends largely on the aperture of the lens. The diffraction of light causing the Airy disk is a factor limiting the resolution of a well corrected optical system. At all times during the "tether incident", and including the example frames above, the INCO in Houston was in control of the payload bay cameras.** (INCO - INstrument & Communication Officer - The man in Houston Mission Control Center who is responsible for operating the Shuttle payload bay, and robotic arm, cameras. He also remotely operates the helmet cameras in space suits. In the case of ISS, this officer is referred to as the CATO - Communications And Tracking Officer. In both cases, these persons CONTROL everything which is PERMITTED to go out on broadcast to the public. It is a commonly believed falacy that the cameras are operated by Astronauts & Cosmonauts on the Shuttles, and Space Station. Very little camera work is done by the crews. They're way too busy for that.) At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions. © 2005 Jeff Challender