STS-114

A "Wolf" Among The "Sheep"?

DVDs Now Available At Project P.R.O.V.E.!

STS-114 lifted off from Launch Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, on 26 July 2005 at 9:39 AM CDT (14:39 GMT). This daylight launch was the most watched in Shuttle history, with the possible exception of STS-1, the initial Shuttle launch on 12 April 1981. The timing and solar angle were chosen to maximise opportunities to film the liftoff, and ascent, from every possible perspective. These even included modified old jet bombers from the 1950s (WB-57 Canberras), carrying special camera turrets in the nose for the purpose of photographing Discovery at high altitude as she was on her way to orbit. The reasoning behind all of this was to make sure that if there were ANY debris strikes on the orbiter's sensitive heat shield, like the one which doomed Columbia in 2003, they would be captured on film for detailed analysis before allowing Discovery to re-enter the atmosphere.

The Crew experienced some facets of Shuttle flight that are entirely new. On orbit inspection of the heat shield, manual repairs to that heat shield, and experiments with different methods of on orbit heat shield repair. In addition, Discovery carried over 15 tons of equipment and supplies to the International Space Station ( in the Raphaello MPLM module ), where she was greeted upon arrival by the Expedition 11 Crew. Three EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were carried out. These involved Space Station repairs, improvements, and attending to heat shield problems. A fourth EVA to repair a flaw in the insulation below Commander Eileen Collins window was cancelled as unnecessary.

Space Shuttle Discovery and her crew landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base (NASA's Dryden Research Center) in the California desert at 7:11 AM CDT (12:11 GMT) on 9 August 2005. Total flight duration was 13 days 21 hours 32 minutes. The mission was highly successful, accomplishing every goal set for it.

The sad news is that in the wake of continued problems with external tank insulation breaking away during liftoff, the Shuttle fleet has been indefinately grounded until the problem is solved.
STS-114 Liftoff
Belly Inspection
Inside ISSy
Robinson On EVA
STS-114 Landing
THE EVENT
In my e-mail inbox on 6 August 2005, were two letters which proved important. One from a fellow in Belgium, who identified himself only as "Flint", and another from my friend Dr. Oren Swearingen DDS of Texas. These letters both referred to what the two men had seen on their television screens simultaneously. They had been watching "live" NASA Select TV coverage of the STS-114 mission. They had both witnessed and were Co-Discoverers of something that shook them both. The incident inspired them to write me with a request that I review my VHS tape for the time in question. Both were anxious to know what I might find.

Undocking of Discovery from the Space Station had occured some six and a half hours earlier, and the two spacecraft were separated by many miles by this time.

What had gotten the attention of the observers was an eerie scene from a black & white low-light camera in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery. She was, at the time, traveling across the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California, in a northwesterly direction. The camera was pointing to the southwest. Behind, and to the east, the Sun had just risen on the Shuttle.

In view were many small and large lights suspended in space. It somewhat resembled a night scene over inhabited countryside; looking very much like cities and towns as seen from orbit in the dark. Most of these were seen against the dark face of the ocean, and APPEARED to be stationary with many of them flashing.

This field of objects was anything BUT stationary, however. At real-time playback speed on the VCR, they certainly appeared that way. When looked at on the computer at vastly increased speed, the field of objects revealed itself to be a cloud of Shuttle debris, with everything in random motion. How such a large cloud of highly reflective debris originated is a bit of a mystery. Shuttle was flying "sideways" at the time. The OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) engines had been used earlier to increase the distance between Discovery and ISSy. Yet, it seems unlikely that such a thick cloud so nearby, would STILL be extant after more than six hours. The RCS (Reaction Control System) jets are often cited as culprits causing unusual looking behavior in ice flakes and debris; also as a source of ice chips on orbit ... but this much?

Now, ignoring the cloud of debris for the time being, we are mainly concerned here with an object which simply put, DOES NOT BELONG! The entire downlink segment lasts 3 minutes 19 seconds from onset to the INCO cutting it off quite suddenly to a pure black screen. (The segment is 3 minutes 41 seconds from "map to map") At the 2 minute 10 second point, a "Wolf" entered the flock of "Sheep". THIS was the object which might possibly be an U.F.O. ..Seen at normal playback speed on the VCR, this one appeared to cross the field of view from right to left, and come to a complete stop. It then seemed to reverse itself, moving back to the right again.

"Flint" asked if it might be a comet, and in "the same breath" pointed out that comets do not stop and back up. This is true. In fact, comets are very slow moving in their naked eye course across the sky. They take days, weeks, even months to traverse the heavens.

Meteors are ONLY visible when they enter the atmosphere at their horrific speeds of 40,000 to 120,000 mph (64,000 to 192,000 km/h), and proceed to burn up from the heat of friction. Other astronomical bodies appear more or less stationary in the sky for Earth based observers, with apparent motion due to the rotation of Earth. On orbit, this motion is merely exaggerated by the velocity of the spacecraft at 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h), but relatively the same.

So, this object displayed anomalous motion. It's not natural, and it doesn't look to be ice or debris. Dr. Swearingen also emphasized that this object crossed his screen, stopped and reversed.

Once the video segment was isolated, and captured into my computer it could be speeded up or slowed down as desired. This is where the "stationary" lights were revealed to most likely be an ice or debris cloud in the vicinity of Discovery. And the fact that it probably WAS a cloud of debris is most likely WHY the INCO allowed the downlink to run on. I think he ALLOWED the public to see this display because he KNEW what it was. Perhaps he even thought he was playing a cruel "UFO Hoax" on the uninformed. When the anomalous object became obvious, he unceremoniously cut the feed to a black screen.

But, DID this strange object stop, and reverse itself? The anomaly, when vastly speeded up in its trajectory, can be seen to not stop but swing to the right in a long gentle turn.

That said, let's now take a few moments to scrutinize the pictures and animations from the event, so that we may better understand what happened and what did not.
SETTING THE SCENE
We begin by establishing where Discovery was at the beginning and end of this event. As can be seen, she was sailing along above the western Pacific Ocean heading for a pass over California and western North America. The red circle denotes my home in the Sacramento area. Bear in mind that 3 minutes 41 seconds elapsed between the two frames in this animation.
The yellow arrow is added to show the direction in which Discovery's camera was pointing during the incident.
   
The crude yellow line shows where the limb of Earth is. Until almost the end of the sequence, this perspective did not change, meaning the camera was not moved. Near the end, and cut to black screen, the camera was suddenly panned down and to the left.
The animated GIF above compresses 2 minutes 25 seconds to less than three seconds time. It covers the period before the anomaly entered from the right. NOW we can see that the "lights" are not stationary, but drifting randomly in space, as ice chips and debris are wont to do.
THE "WOLF AMONG THE SHEEP"
This animated GIF is centered on the final 55 seconds of the sequence containing the anomaly, and is the "full screen" view as originally broadcast on NASA Select TV. This, and the enhancements below, are running at approximately eight times (8x) normal speed.
In the original VHS tape, played at normal speed, this object seemed to come to a stop and reverse itself. But here we can see that it flew though the field of view, and made a long curving swing to the right. As the Sun rose higher toward the end, the clouds over the ocean far below were illuminated. In the final frames, the arcs of milky light which moved as the camera moved, were caused by the Sun lighting up the optics in the camera.
ENHANCEMENTS
Now we are zoomed in some 200%. The point of view is also tracking WITH the anomaly as it moves.
   
This color reversed animated GIF uses the same frames as the normally colored zoom above. Here the anomaly is seen against a light background, and may be easier to follow.
   
Lastly, we offer you an embossed version to give a 3D effect against a neutral grey background.

What is it? The answer to that question remains unknown.

Is it another bit of ice or space junk being turned from it's path by an RCS jet firing? Unknown for certain at this time, but this scenario seems unlikely. We don't know distance from the camera for this object, because in space there is no frame of reference for estimating such things. Therefore, it's impossible to tell the size of the anomaly. We CAN see that it appears to get smaller as it progresses. It does seem reasonable, to speculate that it's a bit far off to be diverted so smoothly by a control jet. In addition we do not see the corresponding flash of light associated with these firings at night. These flashes are often seen even in daylight as well. Another salient point is that IF there were a jet firing, WHY is it that NONE of the other objects are affected?

The same goes for a proposed explanation that the object is being influenced by atmospheric drag (Wind!) at orbital altitude. IF the wind were able to deflect this object so much, in so short a time, then WHY is it that NONE of the other objects are similarly affected?

What remains is that we have an unexplained object whose motion does not fit convention. Our friends Dr. Oren Swearingen DDS of Texas, and "Flint" of Belgium, deserve full credit for having their eyes open, and brains engaged when this sequence of events transpired. Thank you very much gentlemen!

***

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