STS-111 "The New Jersey ZOE"

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5 June 2002 was a beautiful Spring day at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. At 4:23 PM CDT (21:23 GMT) that afternoon, Space Shuttle .Endeavour lifted off from Launch Pad 39A to begin the flight of STS-111. ISS Assembly Flight UF-2 chased ISSy for the next 43 hours with an eye to rendezvous and docking. Final docking took place on 7 June at 11:32 AM CDT (16:32 GMT). The STS-111 Crew, along with the fresh and ready Expedition Five Crew, were enthusiastically greeted by the soon to be homebound ISS Expedition Four Crew.

As well as being a crew ferry flight, STS-111 also delivered 5600 lbs. (2540 kg) of supplies (Food and drygoods) and new equipment to be used by Expedition Five. These included eight Resupply Stowage Racks, five Resupply Stowage Platforms, two International Stowage Racks and two new scientific experiment racks for the station. The new science rack, EXPRESS Rack 3, will increase the orbital outpost's science capabilities. The other scientific rack is the Microgravity Science Glovebox. All of this Cargo was packed inside the Leonardo MPLM "moving van" carried in Endeavour's payload bay.

Three EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were mounted from the Quest Joint Airlock Module by US Astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz and CNES (French Space Agency) Phillipe Perrin on flight days 5, 7, and 9. The focus of the first two EVAs was installation and outfitting of the Canadian built MBS (Mobile Remote Servicer Base System - Film HERE). In the third and last EVA, one of the wrist roll joints was replaced on the Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2.

After eight days of joint operations, the three crews said their goodbyes, and the Shuttle undocked from ISSy. Undocking occured at 9:32 AM CDT (14:32 GMT) on 15 June 2002. From this point on, STS-111 flew alone, leaving the Expedition Five crew to carry on with their mission. After being waved off two times for a touch-down at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, it was decided to bring the Shuttle in at Edwards Air Force Base (NASA's Dryden Research Center) in the California desert. Endeavour landed safely on runway 22 at 12:58 PM CDT (17:58 GMT) 19 June 2002. The flight had lasted one day longer than originally scheduled. Total duration 13 days 20 hours 36 minutes.
STS-111 Launch
Zero-G Fun
Perrin On EVA
Installing MBS
STS-111 Landing
THE EVENT
There is a place on the far side of the world from the United States, which NASA refers to as the “Z.O.E.”, or Zone Of Exclusion. This is an area in which NASA claims there is no communication with spacecraft. This despite the presence of a US Space Command Base on the Island of Diego Garcia, and TDRS-3 (Tracking Data & Relay Satellite) in a Geosynchronous orbit high above. A more detailed overview of this Z.O.E., with numerous links, can be read at:

NASA Secrecy & The Z.O.E.

The article “NASA Secrecy & The ZOE” shows, using evidence from NASA itself, that the so-called Z.O.E. is a myth. The previous lack of communication facilities there was rectified as early as March 1994.

Now, what about “The New Jersey Z.O.E.”? Over the years, I have noticed that during several Shuttle flights, and on a number of occasions involving the International Space Station, NASA has established zones of exclusion in unusual locales.

During the flight of STS-111, one of these inexplicable zones was declared by a NASA television commentator to be just a few hundred miles due east of the New Jersey seashore. NASA would have us believe that there is a zone off the New Jersey seashore where Shuttle communications are not possible!

Let's look into this in a bit more detail, shall we?
THE NEW JERSEY "ZOE"

First, we will see what the NASA Commentator actually said about this ZOE. Below is a transcript of his exact words, followed by an optional download of the audio track as recorded at the time.

C = The NASA Commentator who remarks on events as they unfold

All Orange italics mine for emphasis. Hesitations and grammatical errors are left in as originally spoken. JC.

TRANSCRIPT OF NASA COMMENTS

C: "The crew of Endeavour is still about a half an hour away from their scheduled sleep time. But they are also, that Shuttle that is, is moving into an area outside the coverage of NASA's communication system, and won't be back until after that sleep period is to have begun, at 7:23 Central Time this evening."

END TRANSCRIPT

 

As you might see for yourself, this makes no sense whatsoever in light of the globe girdling "NASA communication system" as it really exists. Let's examine some proof of that system now, OK?

SETTING THE SCENE

Shuttle Endeavour flying due east of the New Jersey seashore.

Endeavour circled in yellow, and her direction of travel signified by the red arrow. The purple arrow denotes New Jersey, which the Shuttle had just overflown moments before.
The stated reason for this so-called "ZOE", was that Endeavour was “Out of Range” of the NASA communications network. No hardware malfunction or antenna shadowing, but OUT OF RANGE! To this writer, that seems to be impossible! The location of the Shuttle Endeavour was in line of sight to Wallops Island, a major NASA communications, and test facility.
THE WALLOPS ISLAND FACILITY
Red star shows location of Wallops Island on the Atlantic coast of Virginia.

During the flight of STS-92 in October 2000, the television equipment aboard failed some seven hours into the flight. What little television was made available to the public on that mission was relayed in part from Wallops Island. This is in addition to many other state-of-the-art communications sites on the ground along the entire eastern seaboard of the United States. Now, on top of all that, there is also a TDRS satellite, with backup, on station over the Atlantic Ocean for the purpose of relaying communications from spacecraft in the vicinity.

The CIA, NSA, NRO, and many other alphabet spy agencies as well as the NASA facility at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, would have been in “line of sight” to the Shuttle. There is little reason to believe that the US Eastern Seaboard lacks sophisticated communications facilities. The same goes for the Atlantic Ocean east of the United States.
THE TDRS SYSTEM
There are at least two, possibly three, Tracking Data & Relay Satellites (TDRS pictured left) in direct line of sight covering the entire continent of North America and the Atlantic ocean.
Atist's conception of a typical TDRS (NASA)
   
TDRSS Constellation (NASA)

This map, provided by NASA, shows the globe girdling Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). Not only are at least TWO of these satellites in line of sight to Endeavour covering the Atlantic Ocean just off New Jersey, but it's likely that the Shuttle was also in line of sight to Goddard Space Flight Center as well. Although its role in manned spaceflight communications is not mentioned on the Goddard home page, it seems very unlikely that the facility would be listed on this NASA map if it didn't have one.

So there is no good reason for these claims that well covered parts of the globe are “OUT OF RANGE” of the NASA communications network. One is led to strongly suspect that the NASA management is counting on the general ignorance of such matters, amongst their tax paying constituency, in order to “get away” with such non-truths. Why are they doing this? The only reason this writer can think of is that something is being hidden. I cannot say what is being cloaked from public view, but there MUST be something, which, in the eyes of NASA, justifies lying to the American public. I just wish we knew what it was.

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At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.

 

© 2006 Jeff Challender