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 12 September 2006, something which NASA has long claimed cannot happen DID happen. We were treated to "live" downlink TV from the infamous ZOE, or Zone Of Exclusion.

What IS this "Zone Of Exclusion"? To make a long story short, it's a swath of the globe more or less centered on the Indian Ocean and India, where NASA says they have no communitcations capability, save in critical moments, with manned spacecraft. This is a LIE! Much more on this is available for you to study here:

NASA Secrecy & The "ZOE"

Diego Garcia Island & The "ZOE"

Well, there have been numerous times when there was "live" TV downlink from the so-called ZOE at NON-critical moments. In this article, we will see just ONE example of this. The case at hand demonstrates that downlink TV can be had from inside the ZOE when NOTHING of import was happening. NOTHING! We were given a show of sea and clouds whilst the crew were SLEEPING!

How could this happen when NASA claims such downlink TV can not be provided to the public? I can't answer that question; YOU will have to decide that one for yourself.

Shall we have a close look at the evidence now?

One just has to wonder why NASA continues to perpetrate the myth of a Zone Of Exclusion on the public, when in point of fact it simply doesn't exist, and hasn't for over a decade. Are 'They' hiding something? Wouldn't surprise me.

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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