Since 1 November 2000, the International Space Station has been manned continuously. At 11:04 PM CDT 30 September 2005 (04:04 1 October GMT), Soyuz TMA-7 lifted off atop a Starsem (a.k.a. Fregat) rocket booster from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After nine minutes of powered flight, ISS Expedition 12 reached orbit and was on its way toward rendezvous and docking with the space station some two days later. Aboard were Soyuz Commander and Expedition 12 Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, and the world's third space tourist Gregory Olsen.

Docking with ISSy took place on 3 October at 12:27 AM CDT (05:27 GMT). Following routine safety checks, hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 3:36 AM CDT (08:36 GMT). Expedition 11 crewmen Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips offered the traditional Russian welcoming ceremony of bread and salt to the new arrivals.

For eight days, the two crews and Greg Olsen worked together. Olsen carried out his own list of scientific experiments during his time aboard. After the transition week was over, Expedition 11 undocked and departed ISS in their Soyuz TMA-6 vehicle. They landed safely, along with space tourist Greg Olsen, back in Kazakhstan on 10 October 2005 at 8:09 PM CDT (01:09 11 October GMT).

During their six month stay on ISSy, McArthur and Tokarev carried out two EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk), a wide variety of science experiments, and managed ongoing maintenance of the orbiting complex.

The first EVA of the flight was conducted in US spacesuits from the Quest airlock on 7 November 2005. The second Expedition 12 EVA was carried out in Russian Orlan suits from the PIRS docking and airlock compartment on 3 February 2006. Both spacewalks were considered a success.

At the onset of Expedition 12, there was some doubt as to whether McArthur would be the last American on ISSy for some time. Agreements between Russia and the US were expiring. There was also political tension over Russian aid to Iran, against which the US government appears to have aggressive designs. The US/Russian Soyuz agreement has since been renewed for a time. Expedition 12 is still in progress as of this writing, so updates to this summary will be added as events unfold.

ISS EVA 12b was initiated when the Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev opened the hatch of the PIRS docking and airlock compartment at 4:44 PM CST (22:44 GMT) on 3 February 2006. Both men were clad in Russian Orlan spacesuits for this EVA. The first task at hand was to launch the creative SuitSat-1 into an independent orbit from ISSy. As the aged Orlan spacesuit tumbled off into space, Valery Tokarev was heard to say "Goodbye Mr. Smith" (MP3 file 83kb © 2006 Jeff Challender) (Click on "Goodbye Mr. Smith" at right for an animated GIF of SuitSat Launch). SuitSat-1 was stuffed with discarded clothes, ham radio gear, batteries, recorded greetings in six languages, and a CD with more than 300 images. Its radio failed after only two orbits, unfortunately.

The next activity on the agenda was to move a Strela (Russian for "Arrow") crane from the Zarya module, and install it with an adaptor to PMA-3 (Pressurized Mating Adaptor) between the Unity Node and Zarya. This to make room to temporarily store new debris shields to be delivered by STS-121 at a future date.

Following completion of the crane move, the two men advanced to the S-1 Truss segment to attempt applying a "safing bolt" to to an emergency cable cutter on the Mobile Transporter. On 16 December 2005, the cutter accidentally sliced through one of two power and data cables on the Mobile Transporter, and NASA wanted to ensure this didn't happen to the only remaining cable as well. McArthur was not able to complete this job, and ended up applying a temporary wire tie to secure the cable to a handrail until it can be safed at a another time.

Then, McArthur and Tokarev returned to the Zvezda module to recover a Russian bio-risk experiment, shoot a number of photos on the outside of the station, and finally return to the PIRS compartment. The hatch was closed at 9:27 PM CST (04:27 GMT 4 February) to end the 5 hour 23 minute spacewalk. It was the 64th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, the 36th staged from the station, and the 17th conducted from PIRS. EVA 12b was McArthur's 4th sojourn in a spacesuit, and Tokarev's 2nd.

This incident took place during the spacewalk of 3 February. SuitSat-1 had already been deployed and the crew were making ready to move the Strela crane from Zarya to PMA-3. I call this object the "flasher" because it was strobing as it traveled across the field of view. In the animated GIFs to come, only frames with the object at its brightest were selected to reduce size, and download time. In addition, the video was brightened to make the object easier to see.

During the event, the INCO had the camera iris open far too wide, resulting in overexposure of the scene. He stopped it down just at the end of the traverse of the anomaly across our TV screen. One wonders if perhaps he finally noticed the object and tried to obscure it just a moment too late.

This object is certainly not astronomical. It isn't the Moon, a planet, or a star. Although these will be seen to drift across the screen, they don't move as rapidly as this thing does.

Those more familiar with Shuttle operations might suspect this object to be simple ice or common debris. BUT, ISSy doesn't have what NASA Shuttle technicians jokingly refer to as "dandruff".

Water is NOT produced aboard the station as it is on Shuttles. Shuttles derive their electrical energy, and water supplies, from H2 /O2 Fuel Cells. These produce copious amounts of water, and when there's too much, it's unceremoniously dumped overboard.

This is absolutely not the case on the station. It uses passive solar arrays to generate energy from sunlight. Every drop of water used aboard ISSy must be imported from the ground. Visiting Shuttles also contribute water by filling large plastic conainers with the excess from the fuel cells. Water is so precious that even urine is converted back to H2 and O2 via electrolysis, employing a Russian device called Elektron. The oxygen is used for breathing, and the hydrogen jettisonned overboard. So, we have established that there is no source for loose flakes of ice coming from ISSy.

In the case of orbital debris, there simply is none MOST of the time. ISSy has been on orbit for a number of years now, and no new modules or components having loose bits of junk to float away, have been added since 2002.

Additionally, the control thrusters aboard ISSy, used for maintaining control of station attitude, were inhibited during the time the crew were on the outside of the Zvezda module. This is for the safety of the spacewalkers themselves. So we can rule out control thruster firings as a factor in the speed and motion of the anomalies seen during ISS EVA 12b.

A visual presentation of the event has been prepared for your study. Let's take a few moments to have a look now, shall we?

Because this strobing object cannot be accounted for by conventional means, I must classify it as unknown.

***

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