By now I'm sure we've all heard about STS-107 / Columbia and the tragic fate suffered by her and her Brave Last Crew on 1 February 2003. We'll touch only briefly on that painful chapter in the history of space exporation here. Suffice it to say, that until that last terrible moment, the flight of STS-107 was all routine for the Astronauts aboard. They did their jobs, carried out the various planned experiments, and enjoyed their time on orbit.

It took me nearly two years to work up the courage to comb through my 38 six hour VHS tapes of the STS-107 flight. Until September 2004, the prospect of watching all those smiling Astronauts, and knowing they were gone, was just too much heartache to bear. It also seemed to me that some might think it rather morbid (and disrespectful to those lost) to expose the anomalies and inconsistencies which appeared on those tapes. But I feel now that Shuttle flight STS-114 has been successful, it's safe to say we have "moved on". ...........I sincerely hope you'll agree.

*****

Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, in Florida at 9:39 AM CST (15:39 GMT) on 16 January 2003. At the time, no one knew it was to be her tragic last flight. Shortly after liftoff, a chunk of insulation broke free of the External Tank and fatally impacted the leading edge of the left wing.

The Crew of STS-107 conducted in excess of 80 different scientific experiments during their mission. These included Earth and space science, advanced technology development, and (ironically!) astronaut health and safety. Most of the experiments were located in the SPACEHAB Research Double Module (RDM), in Columbia's cargo bay. This was the RDMs only flight.

To allow for research to be carried out on a 24 hour a day basis, the crew were separated into two teams; Red Team and Blue Team.

Columbia broke up on re-entry over Texas 16 minutes before her scheduled landing at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility on 1 February 2003. Total flight duration: 15 days 22 hours 20 minutes. All aboard lost their lives. There were no more Shuttle flight for the next 30 months to allow NASA the time necessary to evaluate the accident, and implement procedures to prevent a repetition of the disaster.

During the flight of STS-107, something very strange took place over Australia. Columbia was flying inverted (upside down - belly to the stars) with her black & white low-light payload bay camera turned on and relaying a "live" downlink over NASA Select TV.

As this event opens, orbital sunset was approaching in the west. The camera was moved up and away from a view of the payload bay, finally pointed toward the Earth. From this time on, and throughout the event, NO PART of Columbia was visible to the camera.

After the Sun was completely gone, and full night had set in, the camera was showing us a view of cities and towns across Australia. These settlements were passing by below as the Shuttle flew along at 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 km/h) ever toward the east.

With great suddeness, something moved down from the north and passed between Columbia and the lights on the ground! The object appeared to have a curved edge, reminiscient of a HUGE disk! That is, it is either at distance, and VERY LARGE, or close by and still many feet in diameter. In any case, this anomaly is so big, that it spans the entire width of the field of view, and we are still seeing ONLY a small portion of it.

Almost as soon as the dark object appeared, coming between Columbia and Earth, a "snowy" field of "interference" appeared only at the top of the field of view. I've never seen such a localized "snow" mask before. In all previous incidents where the NASA Select TV signal had "snow" at night, it was over the entire TV screen.

At this point, the INCO in Houston began to pan the camera away from the dark object. This object was either quite near to Columbia, or it was further away and very large. Only four days earlier in the mission, and in almost the exact same location over Australia, Shuttle Pilot Willie McCool had reported a "bright object" which seemed to be moving WITH Colombia. Mission Control tried (unconvincingly) to pass this sighting off as the International Space Station.

A visual presentation has been prepared for you below. Let's take a look, to see just what happened that night, shall we?

This frame illustrates the shape and "size" of the dark object which obscured features on the ground 220+ miles (350+ km) below.

The yellow line depicting the edge of the anomaly is admittedly very crude, but it's the best I can do using MS Paint™.

It does however, give a pretty close idea of the rounded edge, suggesting either a disk or sphere passing between Columbia and the Earth that night.

Please note also that as the object "descends", a sudden mask of "snow" appears just in the area where it is seen.

The "snowy" area is found roughly within the blue box. Was it caused by the INCO trying to "hide the evidence", or did the anomaly emit some kind of "electronic interference" which affected the payload bay camera? I don't know myself.

This animated GIF shows how the object moved across the field of view. When the dark object covered the largest city below, the INCO in Houston moved the camera away toward the lower right, and pointed down to an empty scene for the rest of the downlink. This is why the last of the visible lights seem to "float" to the upper left as the animation progresses.

Now, some may say that a portion of Columbia, or her cargo, may account for what blocks out the cities and towns below. IF this were the case, then Columbia herself would have had to have changed her physical orientation relative to Earth. The Shuttle was flying inverted during the entire downlink TV sequence, so this is not what happened as you can see for yourself in the animated trackers presented of before and after.

Furthermore, there is absolutely NO WAY a "passing satellite" would ever be allowed to approach this close to an orbiting Shuttle.

Just WHAT this object was remains a mystery. Columbia was nowhere near the Space Station, and should have been very much alone in space. Yet, there can be no doubt SOMETHING was in orbit with the Shuttle that night.

***

An event somewhat similar to this one took place during the flight of STS-114, in July 2005. That story is STS-114 The Dark Object.

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