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.

This incident took place on 17 September 2006, during the post-undocking flyaround of ISSy by Space Shuttle Atlantis. This event was co-discovered by my good friend and colleague, Dr. Oren Swearingen D.D.S., of Texas. Soyuz TMA-9 lifted off from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kasakhstan a few hours later. It was to dock with ISSy on 19 September.

The INCO allowed us to watch the flyaround via "live" downlink for awhile. As events unfolded, an anomalous strobing object skimmed from bottom screen to top at the left hand side of our field of view. It passed by swiftly, perhaps too fast for the INCO to cut the feed in time to stop us from observing its pass.

The object was visibly strobeing, and appeared to be somewhat more distant than the image of ISSy. This is pure speculation based on repeated observation. In point of fact, one cannot be sure of distance in space unless one knows the size of the object, and vice versa. There does remain the possiblity that this object was merely a bit of ice from a firing of one of Atlantis' RCS jets as she maneuvered round the station.

In any case, it is interesting to watch. So, how about we examine the visuals I've prepared for your study now, OK?

This animated GIF illustrates roughly where Atlantis was orbiting when the anomaly was seen.

Frame one is the nearest tracker before the event, and frame two is the nearest after.

The RED circles indicate Atlantis' position in each instance. Therefore we can extrapolate that she was just about over the northwest coast of Africa when the anomaly whizzed by.

Although not obvious in this full view animated GIF of the incident, the object was visibly strobeing in the original VHS tape recorded at the time.

ISSy is to the right, and the object passed bottom to top at left. Atlantis was flying round ISSy with her payload bay facing the station. The camera was in that payload bay, and for this reason it's difficult to trace the path of the anomaly back to an origin point aboard the Shuttle.

Here we have a 200% zoom of the anomaly in original colors. The object is a bit easier to see and follow now.

When we take into account that the anomaly was sharply focused, it seems unlikely that it was close by the camera lens. It's trajectory though space, passing roughly by the center of the Shuttle, makes it hard to trace it back to one of the RCS jets. These are mounted in packs on the nose and tail. If it originated with either of these jet packs, it should have displayed a much more acute angle in its path though space. Personally, I think it was not a product of Atlantis, or her RCS jets.

Therefore, I must classify it as an unknown.

***

Back To Article

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