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.

The incident we are about to examine is a strange and unique one. It remains the only oddity in my collection which involves reflections from a window in the dark of night. Endeavour was docked securely to ISSy. A black & white low-light payload bay camera was trained on the recently added Destinly Laboratory Module with its special optically perfect window. This window is ground to fine tolerances in order that there be NO distortion in photos or scientific obervations conducted through it. That lack of distortion would also extend to ANY and ALL reflections on its surface.

The camera in Endeavour's payload bay had a floodlight pouring forth, and this was angled up, so any light reflection from this should bounce harmlessly off into space, NOT back to the camera. In addidtion the strange shapes we will see in this window are not Astronauts moving about either. It was during their eight hour sleep period, so unless someone was "sleep walking", there should not have been anyone in that window either.

The Earth below was in total darkness too. Endeavour was flying over the Pacific Ocean at the time, as well. So there shouldn't have been anything on the surface, like cities and towns, to reflect so brightly in that laboratory window.

In the end, there shouldn't have been ANYTHING whatsoever, that was not only MOVING BACK AND FORTH, but also emitting a strong source of light in the deep of the night.

There was also another strange aspect to this event. Above the robotic arm, there were twin lights in the sky. These changed intensity throughout the time they were visible. What they were, or even might have been, is baffling. There is nothing in that direction which is attached to ISSy. There were no stars, planets, nor the Moon, in that direction either. Had these lights been celestial, they would have moved during the incident due to orbital velocity (17,500 mph - 28,000 km/h) on the part of the Shuttle/Station complex. Yet another mystery.

After a few moments of this, cameras were switched around and we were afforded a competely different view, without "window pains"! This view was practically unidentifiable. It was nearly black, and devoid of any prominent details which would let us figure out what we were seeing. But...this is what the INCO apparently thought we'd RATHER see.

We will now have a look at a computer generated NASA picture, which I have taken the liberty of modifying, to demonstrate the angle of reflection from the payload bay camera floodlight.

Please note how light from the camera floodlight would reflect off the window. The marking "Camera Mount" shows where the camera was, and the double yellow lines trace the path of the floodlight beam up to the Destiny Lab window, and back down at a corresponding angle. Please bear in mind that the camera was NOT in motion during the event. So that does not account for the motion of the lights in the window either.

Next we'll see a still frame from STS-110, which flew in April 2002, but the cameras in use at that date were the same.

These camera lights are very bright. Although you can't make it out here, the light itself is in the shape of a ring, with the camera lens peeking out through the center.

More on this aspect of Shuttle camera usage at STS-110 Camera Games. Another example, which also illustrates the ring-shaped floodlamp very well is STS-114 Camera Games. That one is from STS-114, which flew July/August 2005.

Our next photo is a still frame from our incident. It shows where the window is, the robot arm, and the two mysterious lights mentioned earlier.

The mystery objects are circled in white, and marked by the twin??. Watch within the yellow circle for the strange moving relflections I jokingly call "Window Pains" due to the consternation they seemed to cause NASA.

Next we will have a quick look at what NASA changed over to when the above view became too disturbing for the INCO.

THIS is what NASA thought we'd rather see than the strange reflections and the mystery objects. Heh Heh...

Finally, we get to the animated GIF which illustrates, and pulls it all together...

And here it is. What do YOU think the reflections could be? Did you notice that the reflections move BACK AND FORTH? Not in a single smooth direction as Moon lit clouds on Earth would do. And what about those two lights above the robotic arm? I don't know myself. All I can tell you is what these things are NOT.

***

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.

© 2004 Jeff Challender