80



STS-80 The "Maxfield" Sequence

On the afternoon of 19 November 1996, at 2:55 PM EST (19:55 GMT), Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Launch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center in Florida. STS-80 was to be the longest Shuttle flight ever, at 17 days 16 hours. The mission, "ORFEUS-SPAS II; WSF-3", included the first time two free flying experiments were successfully launched and recovered on orbit. ORFEUS-SPAS II was a multi-discipline science experiment package. WSF-3 was the last deployment of the Wake Shield Facility, used for crystal growing experiments.
The Crew set some records, and performed their mission tasks flawlessly. Columbia landed safely back at Kennedy Space Center Runway 33, on 7 December 1996, at 6:49 AM EST (11:49 GMT). At 17 days 15 hours 54 minutes, it was the longest Shuttle flight to date. This was to be Astronaut legend Storey Musgrave's (right) last flight, with six under his belt. On the evening of 1 December, Flight Day 13, an amazing event took place which has since become almost as well known as the unusual incident of STS-48 Pg. 1, STS-48 Pg. 2 ( STS-48 Flight Information ). What isn't well known is WHO first recorded the video footage from NASA Select TV live downlink, and subsequently discovered the odd goings on therein. His name is John Maxfield of Sacramento, California. On the night of 1 December 1996, John was watching the NASA channel in real time, and recording simultaneously. This was a fortunate occurance for the rest of us, as he was the ONLY private citizen anywhere who did. Had John not had his VCR rolling at the particular time, no one would have ever known about this even outside of NASA, and THEY don't talk.
	Story Musgrave


	As soon as John Maxfield realized that he was looking at something very weird on his TV, he paid closer attention. Later on, he rewound the tape, and reviewed the segment over, and over again. Convinced he had something worth showing the world, he presented his video on television in Sacramento, when STS-80 had been back on Earth for less than three weeks.
In late December 1996, John went on the Sacramento Cable Access program "The UFO Connection", playing his tape, and being interviewed by host Rayna Ryan. At the same time, John had also sent a copy of his material to Jim Dilettoso at Villiage Labs in Tempe, Arizona, for analysis. Dilettoso upon seeing the footage, ran with it and presented it to the world as his own, NEVER mentioning the name of John Maxfield. Dilettoso made the event famous. It appeared in a nationally televised NBC special of February 1999. ( Was Dilettoso paid by NBC for John Maxfield's material? ) This program was titled "Confirmation - The Evidence For UFOs". At no time did anyone ever give John Maxfield any credit for his crucial role in all of this. I have copies of this program, and the episode of "The UFO Connection" featuring John Maxfield and his amazing video recording. In the December 1996 TV show, the video is so much clearer than the fuzzy clip shown on national TV. One has to wonder WHY the NBC broadcast was of such low quality. They are, after all, from the same original source... Well, shall we move on to our first examination of the STS-80 events? On this page, we will concentrate not on the object most often considered, but upon another. When viewed at normal speed, the behavior of this particular object doesn't really manifest itself. It takes the time compression of the animated GIF to truly make this impressive object come to "life". In his interview on "The UFO Connection", John stated that to his eye the object entered the field of view, and "parked". This it did not do. First, a couple of photos of the experiments aboard STS-80; then we will look at the object and how it actually moved.

	This photo records the loading of the ORFEUS-SPAS II; WSF-3 experiment packages into Columbia's configurable payload bay module. The images of the men gathered round really illustrates just how BIG the Space Shuttles actually are.
( NASA Photo )

Here we see technicians working with the Wake Shield Facility prior to its being ensconced in the Shuttle payload bay.
	( NASA Photo )

	When the object first appeared from the lower right corner, it was rather dull. As it traversed toward the left, it suddenly became very bright as seen in this first animated GIF.
GIF © 2005 John Maxfield & Jeff Challender

	After a moment, the anomaly appears to have moved toward the cloud deck on Earth below, and as Mr. Maxfield stated in his TV interview, "parked".
GIF © 2005 John Maxfield & Jeff Challender

	What the object did, though, was to seemingly synchronize itself with the Earth as Columbia raced away to the East at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). It then sailed off back into space, appearing to meet up with two other objects in the distance.
GIF © 2005 John Maxfield & Jeff Challender

Finally, this 30 frame animated GIF shows the full motion of the object from beginning to end. Time is compressed here from around 2.5 mintues to a matter of seconds. Now we can see that the object was never "parked". It entered from the lower right, moved left in a straight line, then changed course 90° on a long gentle curve. It then headed west, actually "skimming" the atmosphere until it moved back out into space away from Earth. At the end of the video segment, it appears to have rendezvoused with two other anomalies.

It seems unlikely that its an errant ice flake, caught by a Reaction Control System ( RCS ) firing. When ice and / or debris are influenced by one of these firings, the result is almost instant, not slow and lazy.

What this object might be remains a mystery.

The event described above is very reminiscient of an object seen during the flight of STS-114. That story is "A 'Wolf Among The Sheep? or A VERY Surprised INCO!". And example of an RCS thruster firing is HERE.

***

At all times during this incident, the camera was under the control of the INCO in Houston Mission Control.

(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.