On 7 April 2007, Soyuz TMA-10 lifted off from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The time was 12:31 PM CDT (17:31 GMT). The Soyuz craft was carried aloft by a Starsem booster, and after some nine minutes of powered flight, reached its preliminary orbit. Aboard were the new ISS Expedition 15 crew, consisting of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, and Soyuz Pilot/Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov. Along for the ride was American space trourist Charles Simonyi (pdf). After two days of on orbit maneuvers and course correction, TMA-10 docked at ISSy on 9 August 2007 at 2:11 PM CDT (19:11 GMT).

These latest space travelers were warmly greeted by the Expedition 14 crew, in residence since September 2006. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, and Second Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, who came aboard with STS-116 in December 2006.

On 21 April 2007, after 11 days of joint operations, and orientation for the Expedition 15 crew, the departing Expedition 14 crewmembers, boarded the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft sealing the hatches behind them. Tourist Charles Simonyi joined them for the return home. Undocking took place at 4:11 AM CDT (9:11 GMT). TMA-9 executed its deorbit rocket firing, reentered the atmosphere and landing safely back in Kazakhstan on 21 April 2007 at 7:31 AM CDT (12:31 GMT).

With the help of now veteran crewmember Sunita Williams, the Expedition 15 crew quickly adjusted to life aboard ISSy. Russian cargo freighter Progress 25 arrived to dock with ISSy on 15 May 2007. It brought over two tons of supplies including water, oxygen, dry goods, and food, along with some fresh fruit and vegetables. Arriving Progress vehicles are always a time of excitement and anticipation for station crews.

EVAs were carried out from the Russian PIRS Airlock & Docking Compartment docking compartment on 30 May and 6 June 2007. Both EVAs were conducted by Commander Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Kotov, wearing Orlan (Russian for Eagle) suits. The main purpose of these spacewalks was to install shielding to the Russian Zvezda (Service or habitation) module against micro-meteoriods and man-made hazards such as small bits of space junk. The first EVA lasted 5 hours 25 minutes, and the second 5 hours 38 minutes. Each was successful, accomplishing all tasks planned.

Numerous scientific experimental programs were scheduled for Expedition 15. These included biological experiments such as taking blood and urine samples from crewmembers for analysis on Earth to determine the long-term effects of micro-gravity on human beings. Plant growth experiments (Lada) in micro-gravity under artificial lights were carried out as well.

In June 2007, Expedition 15 received a visit from Space Shuttle Atlantis, on mission STS-117. Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on 8 June at 6:38 PM CDT (23:38 GMT), arriving and docking to ISSy on 10 June at 2:36 PM CDT (19:36 GMT).

The primary task of STS-117 was delivery and installation of the S3/S4 Truss Segment (pdf) and deployment of a new solar array. Also, the remaining solar array atop the S6 Truss, mounted on the Destiny Laboratory Module during STS-97, was to be retracted for later relocation (Photo 2). Four EVAs

(Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were mounted from the Quest Joint Airlock Module for this purpose, and all were successful (Photo 3). During the previously unscheduled fourth EVA, the thermal blanket on the left OMS nacelle was also repaired. Additionally, several other smaller tasks were completed. EVA #1 - 6 hrs. 12 mins., EVA #2 - 7 hrs. 16 mins., EVA #3 - 7 hrs. 58 mins., EVA #4 - 6 hrs. 29 mins. for a total of 27 hours 55 minutes. The EVAs were carried out by two alternating teams of Astronauts, consisting of Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas, as well as Patrick Forrester and Steve Swanson.

During this flight, Astronaut Sunita Williams, aboard since STS-116 visited in December 2006, was replaced as second Flight Engineer of the Expedition 15 crew by Astronaut Clayton Anderson. Anderson would remain aboard for his six month increment when Atlantis departed.

Over the night of 12 June (STS-117 Flight Day 5), ISSy suffered a major crash of ALL guidance and control computers on board. These included both Russian and American machines. Gound control teams, on both sides of the world, scrambled to understand what happened, and to rectify the situation before Atlantis was scheduled to undock. During the crisis, power to the Russian modules was severely curtailed. Atlantis supplemented power to the station from her onboard Fuel Cells. Many Shuttle systems were shut down, and docked operations were extended an extra day, in order to facilitate the operation. The problems were finally solved via a team effort by all concerned.

Following nine days of joint docked operations, the Atlantis crew returned to the Shuttle, and closed hatches. Astronaut Sunita Williams said goodbye to her Expedition 15 crewmates, and prepared to go home after six months aboard ISSy. Williams, by the end of her increment aboard the station, held the female records for most time on orbit (194 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes), and most time on EVA (29 hours, 17 minutes). Undocking took place at 9:42 CDT (14:42 GMT) on 19 June, with the usual post-undocking fly-around of the station.

Following the departure of Atlantis, life aboard ISSy settled back into the normal routine. New Second Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson adapted swiftly to his new home, working side by side with his Cosmonaut crewmates, and ground controllers to continue Expedition 15's ongoing mission.

On 23 July, Yurchikhin and Anderson, wearing US spacesuits, exited the Quest Joint Airlock on the 7 hour 41 minute US EVA-9 spacewalk.

Official NASA Press Release: 23Jul07

Two International Space Station crew members Monday successfully wrapped up a 7-hour, 41-minute spacewalk that saw the removal and jettison of a refrigerator-size ammonia reservoir. The spacewalk from the Quest Airlock ended at 2:06 p.m. EDT.

Astronaut Clay Anderson was the lead spacewalker, EV1, wearing the spacesuit with red stripes. Fyodor Yurchikhin, the cosmonaut and station commander, wearing the all-white suit, was EV2. Cosmonaut Oleg Kotov operated the Canadarm2 from the U.S. laboratory Destiny.

After leaving the airlock and setting up equipment, the first task was installation of a television camera stanchion. The spacewalkers took it from an external stowage platform and installed it on the Earth-facing side of the station's main truss at the interface Starboard 0-Port 1 (S0-P1) truss segments.

Next they moved to separate tasks. Anderson reconfigured a power supply for an S-Band Antenna Assembly, and then set up and got on a foot restraint at the end of Canadarm2. Yurchikhin replaced a circuit breaker, called a remote power controller module. It ensures power redundancy for a move of the Mobile Transporter rail car on the station's truss.

Back together, Anderson and Yurchikhin removed flight support equipment, where the camera stanchion had been mounted, and an attached Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism. Together they have a mass of about 212 pounds.

While Anderson jettisoned them from the end of the arm, Yurchikhin moved to the Z1 truss, where he disconnected and stowed cabling associated with the ammonia reservoir, called the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS).

The EAS was installed on the P6 truss during STS-105 in August 2001, as an ammonia replenishment reservoir if a leak had occurred. It was never used, and was no longer needed after the permanent cooling system was activated last December. The EAS has to be removed before the P6 truss can be moved to the end of the station's main truss.

With Anderson still on the arm, both crew members moved to the P6 Truss and released the reservoir's remaining connections to the station. Once it was free, Anderson held the EAS while the arm maneuvered him to the jettison point, below the right side of the ISS main truss.

The EAS weighs a little over 1,400 pounds on Earth. The jettison was much like that of the stanchion equipment. Anderson shoved the EAS opposite the station's direction of travel.

A subsequent reboost by Russian thrusters changes the station's orbit to provide clearance from the EAS. The reboost also prepares for the Aug. 2 launch of the Progress 26 cargo carrier and the Aug. 7 launch of Endeavour to the station.

The final scheduled spacewalk task was cleaning the Earth-facing docking port, or Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) of the

Unity node. That was done to prepare for the relocation of Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3), scheduled for late August.

The move is being made to clear the PMA-3's present position, on the starboard CBM of Unity, for a series of events that will culminate with the arrival of the Harmony node and its preparation to receive future space shuttles.

Crew members completed three get-ahead tasks. They removed an auxiliary equipment bag from the P6 Truss and attached it to the Z1 Truss. They also removed a malfunctioning Global Positioning System antenna on the S0 Truss and released bolts on two fluid trays attached to the S0. The trays are to be installed on Node 2, the Harmony node, during STS-120 this fall.

After cleanup Anderson and Yurchikhin re-entered Quest and concluded the spacewalk. It was the first spacewalk for Anderson and the third for Yurchikhin.

In this examination, we'll have a look at that "snow" that seems to permeate almost all of NASA's "live" downlink television pictures at night. The INCOs and CATOs probably want you to believe that there is nothing anyone can do about it, that it's just one of the characteristics of TV from outer space.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

When they WANT to have a clear picture, they do. The "snow" is NOT routine, nor is it "Just part of the facts of life for TV from space". This writer is of the opinion that the "snow" is added to the signal, AFTER it comes down from space, but BEFORE the signal reaches the public. I am of the opinion that its purpose is to obscure fine detail in night views. This sort of thing would go a long way toward keeping members of the public at large from noticing anomalous activity. These can be especially subtle as well, so the masking simply increases the likelyhood that they will be missed.

I'd also like to point out that this "snow" is NEVER present during live downlink TV from INSIDE the Shuttles or Space Station.

It's also USUALLY missing from daytime downlink broadcasts. It's almost always only in the views from outside...at night.

Something else to consider. TV from space is not special. In fact, it's about as common in the world as sunshine. Nearly ALL of the television programming you see in your home, from the nightly news to Saturday morning cartoons, comes from space! That's right, nearly all of it. And not just for those who use dish TV services, but also cable subscribers. Those who still use antennas are getting a significant portion of their programming from outer space, because all of your local TV broadcasters receive and rebroadcast programs from communication satellites. EVEN so-called "Third World" nations are using satellites for their television broadcasts these days.

These satellites form a Saturn like ring around the Earth's equator, and are in geosynchronous orbit, 22,500 miles (36,000 km) above our heads. That's roughly 10 TIMES the altitude of ISSy and the Shuttles on orbit, ONE WAY! The round trip distance for the signals is 45,000 miles! (72,000 km) That's about one fifth the distance to the Moon.

Have you routinely noticed this sort of "snow" (which permeates NASA broadcasts from night time downlink) in your favorite shows? ...neither have I.

NASA downlink TV is USUALLY sent up from manned spacecraft to a TDRS satellite. (There are times when the signal is sent "line of sight" straight to a ground receiver) It is then relayed back down to White Sands New Mexico. At the White Sands Complex, there are two sides. One military, and the other NASA's. Sources tell me that the military reviews the signal first, and sends it over to the NASA side. From there it is sent to the Johnson Space Center, Building #8, in Houston Texas. It is only THEN that the signal is routed to the INCO/CATO desk in Mission Control. Here the officer in charge decides what is finally sent (VIA Satellite AGAIN!) out to the public on NASA Select TV. Heh Heh, there's a REASON they call it NASA SELECT TV!

The TDRS satellites reside in the same orbits, and at the same distances, as the commercial satellites. So why is it that commercial television, taking the same 45,000 mile (72,000 km) route up to space, and back to Earth, never seems to have a mask of obscuring snow? Why is it that NASA TV, at night, almost always does? The signals are routed the same way, using nearly identical technology.

The "snow" mask in NASA TV at night looks less and less justified, doesn't it?

In this particular instance, there was more than one example of the fact that NASA is ADDING this snow to their video broadcasts over NASA Select TV. We had consecutive "live" views from two separate cameras aboard ISSy, mounted on the main truss. In the first scene, the snow was completely missing. Then we were shifted to another camera, and the snow was very much in evidence.

Just two minutes later, after more downlink from the snowy camera, we were given a view from Cosmonaut Yurchikhin's helmet camera, mounted in his space suit. In the video coming from the helmet camera, there was absolutely NO SNOW at all! The images were crystal clear. Now, I ask you, dear reader, if SNOW is all just an inevitable part of TV from space, WHY is it missing sometimes, and present at others? Either snow is unavoidable, or it's not, period.

Now, it's time to have a good look at what happened during the EVA of 23 July 2007. Let's do it together, shall we?

There can now be zero doubt that NASA are adding the "snow mask" to their "live" TV from space. And there can be no reason for doing this other than to hide something. One has to wonder, WHAT would NASA have to hide from the public, who pay all their bills for them. Please think about that...

More On "Snow Games" Here

STS-104 Ridiculous "Snow" Games

STS-105 Snow Games

STS-110 Night Over California - NO SNOW!

ISS EVA 10a - Playing With The Night

ISS EVA 10b - Snow Games AGAIN!

ISS EVA 12a Snow Games Yet Again

ISS EVA 17 "Snow Games" Proven!

STS-117 "Snow Games" 06/07

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At all times during this incident, the camera was under the control of the INCO & CATO 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.

© 2007 Jeff Challender