On 10 August 2001 at 4:10 PM CDT (21:10 GMT), Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center. Mission STS-105 was all set to carry out ISS Assembly flight 7 A1. The orbiter spent the next two days chasing ISS for rendezvous and docking. Final docking was on 12 August at 1:42 PM CDT (18:42 GMT). The Crew of STS-105, along with the fresh and ready ISS Expedition Three Crew, were welomed aboard by the homebound ISS Expedition Two Crew. The traditional Russian offer of bread and salt greeted the visitors on arrival.

Two EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were conducted by Astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester (pictured right). On the first spacewalk, the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS pictured right) was installed, along with an external experiment package called MISSE. On the second EVA, cabling and handrails were placed along the outside of the Destiny Lab Module. Total spacewalk time was 11 hours 45 minutes.

The main Cargo of STS-105 was the Leonardo MPLM and its contents. Leonardo is one of three ESA Italian built Shuttle "moving vans". The module was intalled to a hatch on the Unity Node on 13 August, and returned to Discovery's payload bay 19 August. Its payload included over a dozen experiment racks, and another 12 racks and platforms carrying the wide range of supplies needed by crews aloft. Total weight in cargo was 6775 lbs. (3073 kg).

After saying their fond goodbyes, the Shuttle crew and their Expedition Two passengers sealed the hatches between the spacecraft. Undocking occurred on 20 August at 9:52 AM CDT (14:52 GMT). Discovery slipped away from ISSy and spent the next 28 hours getting ready to come home.

A safe daylight landing took place on 21 August 2001 at 1:23 PM CDT (18:23 GMT). Discovery touched down on Runway 15 at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. Total flight duration was 11 Days 21 hours 14 minutes. Eight of those days, Discovery was docked at ISSy.

While Discovery was cruising over the Aleutian Islands west of mainland Alaska, an anomalous object came into view. Local time was just about Sunset. The payload bay camera was on, and broadcasting "live" downlink Ku-band Television. This was sent out over the public airwaves via NASA Select TV. Discovery had been in space only about ten hours, and docking with ISSy was still almost a day and a half away.

The object crossed the field of view from upper right screen, toward centre. It was heading WEST, which man-made space objects NEVER DO, EVER! All Earth based space craft, with the exception of those in polar orbits, are launched to the east in order to "steal" a fuel-saving kick from the rotation of the Earth. This extra speed ranges from about 1000 mph for equatorial launches, to around 750 mph for mid-latitude launches. No one launches to the west.

As the anomaly neared centre screen, the TV feed was cut suddenly. Subsequently, after a few seconds of the animated Shuttle flying over a map of Earth, NASA substituted old stock footage of Astronaut training taken many months before. Fortunately, I was taping when the incident occurred, and am able to share it with you. What the object is, I cannot say, but it is very much like the many strobing objects seen on other Shuttle flights.

Next is our visual presentation on this anomaly. It includes several animated GIFs of the object in 200% zoom. I hope they make you wonder what is going on "up there".

The debunkers will most likely insist that this object is shuttle based ice or debris. Funny thing is that the object is coming from a direction making it impossible for it to have originated from Shuttle. In addition, the object is moving WEST, which man-made objects never do. The orbital inclination, which appears to match that of ISSy, precludes this thing being a polar orbiting satellite.

It further seems unlikely that this was a Water Dump. In the case of a water dump from the Shuttles, there is NEVER just ONE object, but hundreds flitting in every direction. Also, Discovery had only been in space for ten hours, and the water tanks wouldn't be full enough to require being emptied. In addition, at this point in the flight any excess water would be pumped into large plastic transfer bags for stowage aboard ISSy after docking.

A Shuttle's water comes from the onboard fuel cells. These use hydrogen and oxygen to generate electric power for the Shuttles. They also produce copious amounts of plain water as a byproduct.

ISSy doesn't have fuel cells. She relies on large arrays of solar panels for the passive generation of electricity from sunlight. Water is therefore very precious on the station, and every drop must be imported from Earth. Even urine is recycled through a machine known as Elektron, and converted back to hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is used for breathing, and the plain hydrogen dumped overboard into space.

So, the anomaly approached Discovery from the opposite direction that the Shuttle was travelling in. The Shuttle was advancing ever eastward, and this object was moving west. It was not very fast in its westerly motion, so it wasn't in an opposite orbit, but actually just a bit slower than Discovery. What this tells us is that it wasn't space junk. Because of Discovery's orientation (Inverted), and the fact that the object was moving west, we can be almost certain that the object did NOT originate from the Shuttle itself.

That leaves us with a true 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.

© 2005 Jeff Challender