On the morning of 9 September 2006, at 10:15 AM CDT (15:15 GMT), Space Shuttle Atlantis boosted away from Launch Complex 39B, at Kennedy Space Center Florida. This marked the beginning of flight STS-115 (ISS Assembly Flight 12A). After roughly nine minutes of powered flight, the engines were cut off, and orbit attained.

Two days later, after a complicated chase and rendezvous, Atlantis docked to ISS on 11 September. Once a hard seal had been achieved with Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 mounted to the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module, hatches were opened, and the two crews greeted each other. ISS Expedition 13 members Pavel Vinogradov (Commander), Jeff Williams (Flight Engineer), and Thomas Reiter (ESA Astronaut) were very happy to welcome the STS-115 Crew aboard.

In the ensuing days, three intense spacewalks were mounted from ISSy's Quest Joint Airlock for the purpose of installing the new P3/P4 Solar Arrays. This was the first station assembly mission since STS-113 in 2002. The spacewalkers on STS-115 included veteran Joe Tanner, first timer Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Canadian Steve MacLean, and Dan Burbank. Each team "camped out" in the Quest airlock over night before their EVA. They were breathing pure oxygen to flush nitrogen from their bloodstreams before suiting up and going outside.

Following undocking from ISSy on 17 September 2006, Atlantis flew solo for the next four days. On this date, ISS Expedition 14 launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-9. The new crew consisted of Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Flight Engineer/Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin. The third member, Sunita Williams will swap places with Thomas Reiter at a later date. Along for the ride was the first woman space tourist, Anousheh Ansari.

Unexpected objects were sighted whilst Atlantis was flying alone. Engineers announced that these were all Shuttle based debris. Landing was delayed for an extra day to determine if the Shuttle's delicate heat shield had somehow sustained damage. None was found, and Atlantis landed safely at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility on 21 September 2006, at 5:21 AM CDT (10:21 GMT). It had been a successful and productive mission.

An unusual and unique event took place during the flight of STS-115. Atlantis had undocked from ISSy two days prior, as Soyuz TMA-9 was enroute to the station. At this time, a simultaneous radio conference was arranged between the crews of all three space craft. Ship to ship communication had never happened before with THREE manned craft in orbit at the same time.

Toward the end of this unprecendeted conversation, after Soyuz had bowed out for consultation with Moscow, an anomalous object appeared in the distance off Atlantis' nose. The Shuttle was passing over the northeast coast of Australia at the time. Sunset wasn't far away. The INCO noticed the anomaly, and zoomed in on it with the remotely controlled payload bay camera. When he had the object enlarged, he played with the focus, causing the image to become distorted. It acquired the characteristic "doughnut hole" in the center, caused by the latent image of the camera iris.

At the last moment the object was in view, the focus was sharpened, and it took on the appearance of an oval. Then, the INCO cut the "live" feed, and gave us the animated tracker at Mission Control.

Some two and a half hours later, the triple ship conversation was repeated, with the anomalous part of the video truncated. The original video had been "shifted" relative to the audio track, and the anomalous material cut off before it could all be seen.

Later yet, more than six hours after the intitial event, the anomalous video was repeated again. But this time it was used, perhaps by mistake, as stock background footage during a routine radio report by ISSy Commander Pavel Vinogradov to Russian Mission Control (TsUP) in Korolyev! It was even replayed in its entirety!

Finally, nearly 13 hours after the occurance, the original three ship radio talk was played back as part of Flight Day Highlights - Day 11. This is a daily compilation of each day's on orbit activities when a Shuttle is aloft. It is always run during crew sleep periods, most hours on the hour. In this instance, just as the replay got to the point where the anomaly appeared, OTHER FOOTAGE HAD BEEN SUBSTITUTED FOR THE ORIGINAL!! The anomaly had been cut right out!

Given that NASA had been so forthcoming with video of suspected debris which they said had inexplicably come off the Shuttle during these last days of the flight, WHY did they excise this object from the prepared Flight Day Highlights film? IF it were mere ice or debris, there should have been no reason to "hide" it. Yet, hide it they did.

It seems obvious that someone at NASA did NOT believe this object was of conventional origin. There wouldn't seem to be any other cause for removing it from public scrutiny.

We've seen this sort of censorship by NASA in Flight Day Highlights before. A most blatant example of such lies is an event from STS-108, discovered by our friend and colleague, Dr. Oren Swearingen of Texas.

This animated GIF illustrates where the three ships involved in the radio conversation were when the talk came to an end.

The large yellow arrow notes the orbital track of Atlantis when her payload bay camera was showing the anomaly.

This is the full view of the event. It includes a circle to help you track the object until it becomes easily visible to the eye. Please note that sunset is fast approaching, and the anomaly is seen against the darkening Earth when finally zoomed.

These three animations are at 200% digital zoom. The circle is included for your assistance.

Lastly, we offer you the best of the still frames from the 200% zoom series.

Please note that the object has an oval shape. In fact, it is quite reminiscient of the objects seen during two events from STS-96 in Spring 1999.

Hovering Orb

The Flyby

The film at left is from Flight Day Highlights - Day 11. This is the stock footage which was substituted for the anomaly during the relevant part of the triple ship radio conference.

The substitution was made where you see a sudden "split" from one scene to another.

Was NASA praciticing "damage control" by censoring out the anomaly from the replay?

I believe a case has been made for the object being anomalous in nature. NASA had released video of what they identified as debris from Atlantis the same day, yet they took deliberate steps to conceal the object we examined here. If the object were not an anomaly, being something mundane, then why did NASA decide that this one was not for public viewing?

In my opinion, this alone is strong evidence for the object being a genuine anomaly. Therefore, I must classify is as an unknown.

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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.

© 2006 Jeff Challender