The flight of STS-121 (ISS Mission ULF-1.1) opened with the liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery from Launch Complex 39-B , Kennedy Space Center, at 1:36 PM CDT (18:36 GMT) on 4 July 2006. Appropriately, this was American Independence Day as well. After some 9 minutes of powered flight, MECO (Main Engine Cut Off) occurred, and orbit was achieved.

As with the previous Shuttle flight, STS-114, a great deal of attention was focused on the performance of the foam insulation on the External Fuel Tank. Changes and modifications to this component were successful, and after extensive on-orbit inspection of the heat shield, NASA engineers pronounced Discovery safe for re-entry at mission end.

Docking with ISS was accomplished on 6 July, roughly two days after launch. The CREW of Discovery were welcomed by ISS Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams, in the traditional Russian way, with the offering bread and salt. This flight also delivered ESA (European Space Agency) Astronaut Thomas Reiter, of Germany, to join the ISS Expedition 13 crew. His addition marked the first time ISSy has boasted a crew of three since spring 2003, following the loss of Columbia.

Discovery brought with her the Italian built MPLM (Multi-Purpose Logistics Module) "Leonardo". This spaceborne "moving van" contained around 15 tons (13,600kg) of equipment and supplies for ISSy. Once the new materiel was unloaded, superfluous equipment crowding the limited space aboard ISSy was stowed for return to Earth.

Three EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were mounted in US spacesuits from the Quest Airlock. Astronauts Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum tested methods for repairing damaged heat shield components, and performed repairs to the Mobile Transporter, damaged by accident in December 2005. In addition, the two Astronauts tested the feasability of using the 50 foot (15.24m) robotic arm extension. This extension was used with a special camera to inspect the belly of the orbiter for damage. In this case, engineers at Houston wanted to know if extended arm could be effectively used to carry Astronauts on the end. It was hoped that they would be able to work from this lofty perch. The experiment was a success.

After some nine days of joint operations with the ISSy crew, farewells were made, and Discovery separated from ISSy at 4:08 AM CDT (9:08 GMT) 15 July 2006 to fly solo for

the next two days. STS-121 came to an end with the safe landing of Discovery at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility , runway 15, at 8:15 AM CDT (13:15 GMT) on 17 July 2006. This mission was highly successful, the brave crew accomplishing every task mapped out for them. Total duration: 12 days 18 hours 38 minutes. The fact that Discovery and her crew performed so flawlessly also opened the door for the resumption of ISS construction flights again. These had been suspended since the fatal loss of Columbia in February 2003. Congratulations are in order for all concerned.

The following event was broadcast "live" to the public on NASA Select TV channel, available to many cable and dish TV customers in North America. On Flight Day 5, 8 July 2006, Discovery and ISSy were cruising high above Brazil. The INCO had the low-light black & white camera in Discovery's payload bay pointing to the west. In view were the western Amazon basin, as well as the Andes Mountains of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The crew were in their sleep period when all of this took place.

Several hundred miles/kilometers below, active thunder storms could be seen, and lightning was flashing randomly. It was then that SOMETHING very weird was seen moving under the cloud deck below. Subsequently, this object emerged from the clouds at very high speed, and appeared to shoot off into space to the east!

Due to the fact that the Shuttle/Station Complex was orbiting in excess of 220 miles (350km) above the Earth, this object MUST have been MANY MILES/KILOMETERS in diameter! This is one of the rare cases in which we DO have a frame of reference to judge the actual distance of the anomaly. This because the object rose FROM the clouds far beneath Discovery's camera.

This thing is almost certain to be SELF-LUMINOUS, as the event took place near local midnight. The Sun was NOT a factor here. There was a very bright Moon shining down that night, but Lunar light is hardly strong enough to account for the luminosity of the anomaly.

Based on the ensueing behavior of the INCO, I believe he was aware that this anomaly got past him. He quickly cut off the "live" downlink, returning to MCC Houston, and the animated tracking map. When he did return to the "live" feed, he began to "play" with the camera. It was panned to the right, with a bright floodlamp mounted on the Canadarm just out of the field of view. This blinding light caused a series of lens flares to appear. These faux images were round and circular, similar in shape and size to the anomaly. BUT, they did NOT mimic the motion of the anomaly, nor did they originate from BELOW the cloud deck. So it was a wasted effort to provide, in my opinion, "plausible deniability" for the "Big One That Got Away"!

It's been asked why there have been no ground based reports of the object, given its tremendous size and luminosity. Well, there are a number of factors which might go a long way to explain that. First, we have no way of knowing if the object was even visible from the ground. It may have remained in the cloud layer, and been obscured by same to viewers on the surface. In addition, it was near local midnight, over a VERY remote part of the largely unexplored Amazon rain forest, where there is a very small population. Out there, you have Native tribes, most of whom are not in communication with the outside world. You have farmers and ranchers in remote villages where there are few phones and other accouterments of "civilization". Both groups usually go to bed early. It seems reasonable that the local inhabitants were probably sleeping when the object passed above. So there are several good possible reasons why no one has come forward with an eye witness account.

A visual presentation of this incident has been prepared for you to study. Let's examine the evidence for this event now, shall we?

Here we have a frame of the animated tracker used by NASA to show where the Shuttle/Station Complex is at any given time.

Note the RED circle denoting the location of Discovery and ISSy at the time of the event.

The gross surface features are named for you here. The lights amongst the clouds are cities in South America.

The camera view is facing west, with the edge of Earth and deep space in the far background.

This is our first look and the anomalous object. See how it skims UNDER the clouds before emerging from a thunder storm? This animated GIF is the full screen version, presented just as it was broadcast on NASA television that evening.

It has been suggested that the object might be some natural phenomenon, such as ball lighting. I remind you that ball lightning is very rare, and has NEVER been reported to be of this GIGANTIC size!

Also, try to imagining the energy required to produce ball lightning this large. I must relegate the ball lightning explanation a very low level of probability for obvious resons.

Now we have zoomed in 200%. It's a much closer look at the anomaly.

I must admit to being baffled as to the identity of this thing. It's difficult to conceive of something so unbelievably huge, and capable of emitting its own light!

Just moments after the object went on its way, the INCO gave us this demonstration of lens flares. I believe this action was an attempt to convince anyone lucky enough to see the anomaly that this is what they actually saw.

Sorry...not buying this one.

What have we in this event? I simply can't tell you. I don't know what the object might be. It's monstrous size precludes a whole host of conventional explanations. It was almost surely self-luminous, it was the size of a large city, and it emerged from under the cloud deck right through a thunder storm. For these reasons alone, I must classify it as 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