STS-113 The Hovering Object
|
||
| |
|
|
STS-113 The Hovering Object |
||
|
In the cool evening of 23 November 2002 at 6:50 PM PST (00:50 24 November GMT) Space Shuttle Endeavour rocketed away from Launch Complex 39A in Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida. This was the start of STS-113, and a 44 hour chase to rendezvous and dock with ISS. Aboard were the STS-113 Crew and the ISS Expedition Six Crew. Expedition Six was to be the last three person crew aboard the station for an indefinate period following the loss of STS-107 / Columbia early in 2003. Docking took place at 3:59 PM CST (21:59 GMT) on 25 November. The two crews were warmly welcomed aboard ISSy by the outgoing Expedition Five Crew, after hatches were opened between the two craft. There ensued seven days of joint operations, including hand over to the new Station crew. The main Cargo of STS-113 (ISS Assembly Flight 11A) was the P-1 Truss, installed by using both Canadarms. This is the fourth segment of the Integrated Truss Structure. It is 45 feet (13.7m) long and weighs 27,506 pounds (12,477kg). It brings the current length of the ITS to 134 feet (40.8m), and extends the Mobile Transporter System (ISSy's rail line). It contains new radiators, TV cameras, lights and a new UHF antenna. Additionally, the P-1 Truss includes a new manually operated rail car (CETA - Crew & Equipment Translation Aid). STS-113 also delivered 4340 pounds (1969kg) of other cargo to ISS this trip. Three EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were mounted from the Quest Joint Airlock Module by Astronauts Michael Lopez-Algeria and John Herrington. The two men spent 19 hours 55 minutes outside the spacecraft outfitting and activating the P-1 Truss. After Expedition Crew Five handed the Station over the the Expedition Six crew, fond farewells were expressed and the Shuttle undocked from ISSy on 2 December at 2:05 PM CDT (20:05 GMT). STS-113 flew alone after that. (An interesting side note is that only a few hours after undocking, the two spacecraft passed over my home at twilight that evening. That story HERE.) Endeavour landed safely at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, on runway 33 on 7 December at 1:37 PM CST (19:37 GMT). Total flight duration 13 days 18 hours 47 minutes. |
 |
| STS-113
Launch |
|
 |
|
| Endeavour
Near ISS |
|
 |
|
| Herrington
On EVA |
|
 |
|
| Installing
P-1 Truss |
|
 |
|
| STS-113
Landing |
THE
EVENT |
| On 3 December, a strangely behaving object appeared just at orbital dawn. This fairly dim object "drifted" into the field of view from the lower right, slowed and came to a compleat stop. It then brightened considerably and stayed in a single place over the surface of Earth. Endeavour continued on her orbit, taking her out of sight of the anomaly below. There was no visual evidence of anything which might have influenced an ice flake, so it's anyone's guess what this object might be. The single most fascinating aspect of this event is that toward the end of its traverse of our field of view, it is perfectly synchronized with, and appears to be hovering over, a specific spot on the surface of the Earth below. I can't think of any ice or debris indicent in which this happened before or since. Take a look at the visual presentation below to make up your own mind. |
| SETTING
THE SCENE |
 |
STS-113 Event of 3 December 2002. The anomaly is circled in yellow. The red arrows indicate the clouds with which the anomaly became synchronized. |
| THE
HOVERING OBJECT |
 |
Note how object describes a decidedly curved trajectory, then actually stops to hover over a spot on the surface. It matches its velocity with the surface of the Earth before disappearing out of the bottom of the frame. Watch the clouds in sunrise at top for comparison. It's uncanny. The object is actually HOVERING over one single spot on the surface of Earth! |
|
ENHANCEMENTS |
|
 |
Please also note that at the top of it's "curve", the object brightens noticeably. This is further evidence that we are NOT dealing with an ordinary ice chip here. These animations run at about 10 times normal speed. The actual event took 2 minutes 9 seconds from beginning to end. |
 |
At left is the same 18 frame animated GIF but with colors reversed. Now the object is black against a light background. |
 |
Lastly, the same animated GIF, but embossed to give the object a 3D effect against a neutral background. |
A somewhat similar event was captured from the flight of STS-114, in August of 2005. You may view that story HERE. Because this object behaves in a strange fashion, reversing its course and synchronizing with a single spot over the surface of Earth, I classify it as an unknown. *** 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
|
 |
 |
