The 10th Expedition Crew to ISS lifted off in their TMA-5 Soyuz Vehicle, atop the venerable Starsem booster, from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 13 October 2004 at 10:06 PM CDT (3:06 14 October GMT). This marked the beginning of 193 days on orbit for this Crew. The crew of TMA-5 consisted of Cosmonauts Salizan Sharipov (Soyuz Commander - Expedition 10 Flight Engineer), Yuri Shargin (Russian Space Forces), and Astronaut Leroy Chiao (Expedition 10 Commander and Science Officer). Shargin returned to Earth one week later with Expedition 9 Crew aboard the TMA-4 Soyuz.

TMA-5 Docked With ISS on 15 October at 11:16 PM CDT (4:16 16 October GMT). During their six and a half month stay aboard, the Crew mounted Two EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) from the PIRS docking and airlock compartment wearing Russian Orlan Spacesuits. The EVAs took place on 26 January 2005, and 28 March 2005. Both were successful, and accomplished all their goals.

Twenty-two major scientific experiment programs (pdf file 2.49mb) were carried out during Expedition 10. These included studies in Bioastronautics, the Physical Sciences, Space Product Development, and Space Flight.

There were several nagging problems with the Elektron oxygen generating system, and the Vozdukh CO2 scrubbing equipment. These problems persisted until STS-114 / Discovery visited ISSy in July/August 2005, bringing up parts and supplies needed to finally stem the failures. Just a few days before Expedition 10 returned to Earth, another of the Control Moment Gyros, for keeping the station under control, failed. This too was repaired once and for all during the visit of STS-114.

The arrival of the Expedition 11 Crew on 16 April 2005, with Italian Astronaut Roberto Vittori, signalled the final days of Expedition 10. Sharipov, Chiao, and Vittori undocked their TMA-5 Soyuz from ISSy on 24 April 2005. They initiated their deorbit burn, and executed re-entry. They made a safe landing near Arkalyk in Kazakhstan later that same evening. Over all, Expedition 10 was a happy and successful mission.

On 28 March 2005, the ISS crew of Expedition 10 performed the second, and last, EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) of their increment aboard the station. Commander and Science Officer Leroy Chiao, and Flight Engineer - Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov, donned Orlan spacesuits, and exited the hatch of the PIRS module.

This spacewalk (EVA-10b) included the manual launch of a "Nano-Satellite" for Russia, the installation of more hardware related to the European (ESA) ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle), and other tasks. More on that part of the story HERE. Information on the Nano-Satellite HERE and HERE. There also seems to have been something of a near emergency, but it was thankfully avoided. The crewmen were dangerously close to one of the control thrusters on the Zvezda Service Module while it was active, on automatic mode. This activation was due to the failure of the internal gyroscopes to keep ISSy in place. Normally when men are working outside a spacecraft, thruster rockets are disabled for safety reasons. An example of one of these thrusters firing is available HERE.

This is a three part incident. Just like EVA-10a, in January 2005, NASA cut off the live TV feed from space each time ISS orbited over the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). This area, covering southeastern South America and extending out into the Atlantic Ocean toward South Africa, has strange properties concerning the Earth's magnetic field. This magnetic oddity seems to have profound effects on TV cameras travelling through it. This was demonstrated magnificently during the maneuvers of Soyuz TMA-5, and also Soyuz TMA-4 in October of 2004.

There is some mystery concerning why NASA is so reluctant to allow us to see the live feed from this region. Were I you, I would'nt hold my breath waiting for an explanation. Houston has even gone so far as to make up a false story that this area is "out of range" of their global communication satellite network, known as the TDRSS. That was their story in January 2005. This time, they didn't even bother to try to explain, they just cut the feed...

So, let's begin our examination of the evidence for this strange habit on the part of NASA, shall we? We will begin by setting the scene.

The SAA is circled in Blue. Frame 1. from the first orbit over the SAA by ISSy during the EVA of 28 March 2005.

Frame 2. shows second orbit over this region. The feed was cut just as ISSy was entering the outskirts of the SAA.

Frame 3. is the third and last orbit of ISSy over the SAA during the EVA. The station is just kissing the western edge of the SAA.

WHY is it that NASA feels the need to cut off live television in this particular area of Earth? One is left to wonder.

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At all times during this incident, the camera was under the control of the CATO 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