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.

On 11 September 2006, Shuttle Atlantis commenced a waste water dump. This water dump was shown "live" on NASA Select TV. We have a similar water dump featured at Project P.R.O.V.E. from STS-114 in 2005, but this one is from a completely differenct perspective. That makes for a nice comparison of views.

The waste water dump is a routine operation performed by Shuttle's on orbit. A water dump is accomplished by spraying excess water out into space through a nozzle on the starboard side of the orbiter. Not only is waste water jettisoned, but also accumulated pure water from the onboard fuel cells. These use hydrogen and oxygen gas (H2 & O2) to generate electric power for the Shuttles. They also produce copious amounts of plain water as a byproduct. Due to landing weight restrictions, this water can't be stored for return to Earth. As much of this water as possible is pumped into large plastic containers for use aboard ISSy. The rest (Along with waste water from toilets, space suits, and condensation from the air.) is collected and squirted into the vacuum of outer space, to be lost forever.

As this water is released, the individual droplets freeze almost instantly into ice particles rather like snowflakes. They scatter all over, bumping into each other like billiard balls, and even bounce off the Shuttle and Station components. But, due to the principle of inertia, they always move in straight lines through the vacuum of space. Once again, the billiard ball analogy helps with visualising the concept. They have no engines, or other means of propulsion and steering. Once on a trajectory, they continue in a straight line until either hitting something, or being influenced by an outside force. An example of such an outside force would be the firing of the RCS jets aboard the Shuttle. As the tear drop shaped exhaust plume from these small rockets expands, it can briefly blow small particles about just like the wind on Earth. The gases dissipate into the vaccum rapidly, and their effect is quickly lost. An example of how this works can be seen HERE.

ISSy doesn't have fuel cells. She relies on large arrays of solar panels for the passive generation of electricity from sunlight. Water is therefore very precious on the station. Every drop must be imported from Earth via Shuttles, and Russian Progress Freighters launched three or four times a year. Even urine is recycled through a Russian machine known as Elektron, and converted back to hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is used for breathing, and the plure hydrogen dumped overboard into space.

Let's have a look at this water dump now, shall we?

This little study of a Shuttle water dump was done for your comparison. In the past, waste water dumps have caused excitement in observers who didn't understand what they were looking at, and thought the "blizzard" of resulting snow flakes were anomalous. They were, and are, not. Fascinating as it can be to watch, it's just one of the many routine operations carried out by Shuttles on orbit.

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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