Space Shuttle Discovery rocketed from Launch Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, on 11 October 2000, at 6:17 PM CDT (23:17 GMT) to begin her mission to rendezvous and dock with ISS. STS-92 spent the next 42+ hours "chasing" ISSy (International Space Station), with docking taking place on 13 October at 12:45 PM CDT (17:45 GMT). The CREW boarded an as yet uninhabited space station to begin seven days of work preparing the craft for the Expedition One Crew, expected at the beginning of November 2000.

The main mission of STS-92 (ISS Assembly Flight 3A) was to deliver and install the primary Cargo which consisted of the Z-1 Truss and PMA-3 (Pressurized Mating Adaptor 3). The Z-1 Truss is of critical importance to ISSy, in that it houses the four control moment gyros, and will mount the main solar arrays. PMA-3 adds another docking port to ISS for visiting Space Shuttles. The Z-1 Truss was positioned on ISSy using Discovery's Canadarm prior to the Astronauts venturing out to complete the final connections.

Four EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were carried out from the Shuttle airlock by Astronauts Bill McArthur, Leroy Chiao, Jeff Wisoff, and Michael Lopez-Algeria. EVA-1 saw work done with connections and modifications to the Z-1 Truss. EVA-2 was mainly concerned with installing PMA-3 with the help of the Canadarm. Some more work with the Z-1 Truss was also completed. EVA-3 included further work toward completion of the Z-1 installation. EVA-4, the last of them, finished the job of outfitting and setting up the Truss. Total time on EVA was 20 hours 7 minutes.

After a very successful week working on ISSy, the STS-92 crew bid their temporary home goodbye, and undocked on 20 October at 10:08 AM CDT (15:08 GMT). Four days later, Discovery landed safely on 24 October 2000, at 4:01 PM CDT (21:01 GMT). The landing took place at Edwards Air Force Base (NASA's Dryden Research) in the California desert, due to high and dangerous winds at the KSC landing facility. Total flight duration: 12 days 21 hours 43 minutes.

Due to what NASA claimed were "technical difficulties", normally seen Ku-Band full motion TV downlink was "lost" around seven hours into the mission. There were a very few brief bits of television, relayed to NASA Select TV by ground stations. For most of the flight, we were only allowed those annoying S-Band "slide shows", or as NASA refers to them, SSV (Sequential Still Video).

This incident happened during that first seven hours or so, before the Ku-Band TV was lost, for whatever reason. In fact, it was very shortly after this event that the "technical difficulties" arose... The tape was recorded live from NASA TV as it happened, around seven hours, ten minutes after liftoff.

At approximately 1:27 AM CDT (6:27 GMT) 12 October 2000, during a pass over the eastern Indian Ocean, just off the southern coast of Australia, the payload bay camera did a pan from left to right. The pan began with a view of the cargo bay and robotic arm against the Sun, and ended with a slanted view of Earth below.

In between, there were a couple seconds where we could see into deep space, albeit with some lens flares caused by the proximity of the Sun. BUT, during those seconds, we caught a look at four objects apparently flying together in formation. There were two sets of two objects, each pair in tandem.

Our first picture shows where the Shuttle was when this took place.

Discovery (circle - bottom panel) seen over the Indian Ocean west of Australia. Discovery's tail was pointing out into space, away from Earth. The ZOE is seen within the "pie slice" left (west) of the Shuttle.

In the upper left panel, the red arrow indicates the direction of the camera at the outset of the event.

Here we can see that there were two pairs of objects in formation. The two formations were curiously at a 90° angle from each other. Look for these objects in the animated GIFs to come. These are NOT stars, or planets.

Next we will see an animated GIF of what happened in between the two above photos.

This is the "full view" 18 frame animation. We start with a view out and over the tail of the Shuttle, and below the Sun. The camera is panned (rotated) to the right by the INCO, and the formations of anomalies are seen for only 1.25 seconds as the payload bay camera is in motion. Finally, the sequence ends with a view looking west back toward the limb of Earth, with the Indian Ocean below.

Those frames containing the anomalies have been brightened 56 points to make them easier to follow.

Now we are zoomed 150% on the most relevant portion of the original video clip. The video has been brightened 56 points by me to make the objects easier to see. This animated GIF is composed of 12 frames which best showed the two formations hanging out is space. Remember, it was the CAMERA which moved. The objects were stationary relative to Discovery.

On the original video clip, the elapsed time was much shorter than in this animated GIF. The camera panned this entire sequence in about 2 seconds with the anomalies visible for 1.25 seconds of that time. Please bear in mind that the daylight color cameras aboard the Shuttles NEVER pick up stars in the daytime sky. The light of the Sun and bright reflective surfaces overwhelm them. The Moon can be seen in these cameras, but only when directed to it, and zoomed in.

It takes a dedicated eye to catch these little incidents. They'd slip right by most. I can tell you what these objects are NOT, but I cannot give you a solid conclustion as to what they actually are.

We have establised that the four objects seen cannot be stars or other astronomical bodies. Ice and debris never hang motionlessly. They will ALWAYS be seen going in some direction. That leaves us with what? For the reasons stated, I must therefore classify these objects as unknown.

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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.

© 2006 Jeff Challender