On 19 April 2001, at 1:41 PM CDT (18:41 GMT), Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. STS-100 spent the next two days chasing the International Space Station with an eye to rendezvous and docking. Final docking took place on 21 April at 8:59 AM CDT (13:59 GMT). When the hatches were opened, the STS-100 Crew were welcomed aboard by the space station crew of ISS Expedition Two. There followed eight days of joint operations between the two. Unfortunately, several computer crashes onboard ISSy hampered some of the planned activities.

The main goal of ISS Assembly Flight 6A was to install the new robotic arm, contributed by the Canadian Space Agency, onto the exterior of the station. Two EVAs (E.xtra V.ehicular A.ctivity or spacewalk) were carried out by Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield and American Astronaut Scott Parazynski (pictured on EVA at right) for that purpose, also installing a new High Frequency Antenna to enhance station to ground communications. STS-100 Pilot Jeff Ashby, and ESA Astronaut Umberto Guidoni, assisted the two spacewalkers by operating the Shuttle's Canadarm during the EVAs. During the installation of Canadarm 2, there occured what was called the "Canadian Handshake", as one Canadarm grappled the other. (pictured right)

The arm, known as Canadarm 2, is the most advanced robotic arm yet, bringing many new capabilities to the Space Station. (Comparison of the shuttle robotic arm with the station robotic arm.) The Italian built Raffaello MPLM-1 was deployed for delivery of cargo and supplies to ISS, and reloaded with experiments and refuse to be returned to Earth with Endeavour. The flight was successful in completing all assigned tasks.

Endeavour undocked from ISSy at 12:34 AM CDT (7:34 GMT) on 29 April 2001. STS-100 and her crew landed safely two days later at Edwards Air Force Base (NASA's Dryden Research Center) in the California desert at 11:11 CDT (16:11 GMT) on 1 May 2001. Total flight duration was 11 days 21 hours 30 minutes.

American entreprenour Dennis Tito (Story Here) set out on his flight to ISSy aboard a Soyuz craft launched from the Russian space center, at Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 28 May 2001. The Soyuz docked with ISSy on 1 May 2001; the same day Endeavour landed back on Earth. Mr. Tito spent a quiet week helping his crewmates, shooting pictures of Earth through the windows, and listening to opera music. He landed safely in his Soyuz descent module back in Kazakhstan on 6 May 2001.

During the final rendezvous and docking maneuvers, several anomalous objects were seen from the windows next to the right seat on the flight deck of Endeavour. One might normally dismiss these as debris coming off the Shuttle surfaces. BUT, just after the passing of the first object, the Astronaut sitting in that seat took the trouble not only to look carefully at the object, but he even did a "double take"! Not the reaction one would expect from an experienced Astronaut for mere ice chips.

Below, we have some stills for orientation, and a few animated GIFs of the anomalies I have prepared from the original tape for you. These are composed of still frames taken from the actual live public broadcast on NASA Select Television. It pays to look carefully at ALL downlink TV from Shuttle and ISSy.

Note the arrow points in the exact dirrection in which the object was going in the first animated GIF. Is this what the Astronaut was looking at? There is a strong suggestion that it may be so.

The animation is next, and once again it's a 175% enlargement from original size.

Can you imagine this experienced Astronaut taking time out from critical piloting operations just to stare at an ice chip or hunk of trash? ..Me neither...

This writer has a difficult time understanding how it could be a flake of ice coming from the OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) engines to the extreme aft end, or the RCS Jets in the nose pack. The main engines would necessarily push any ice away to the rear, and the forward jets would shoot off into space away from the nose of the ship...

Next we will look at the final anomaly from this flight deck view. Very soon after this, the live feed from Shuttle Endeavour was cut off again.

Where to look and what to expect...

This last object bears a strong resemblence to the "cigar" anomaly from STS-112.

Please note the shape of this one. Its speed was roughly equal to that of the animated GIF too. An ice chip, blown from the engines during a "burn" would very likely be moving much faster. It's hard to fathom how it could move along at such a liesurely pace under those circumstances. That's why I think this is another anomaly from space flight.

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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. 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