The International Space Station (ISS) has been occupied continuously since 1 November 2000, with the arrival of the Expedition 1 Crew. Much had changed by the time the Expedition 9 Crew came aboard. The Station had nearly doubled in size, with a large increase in capability.

Expedition 9 initiated with the launch of Soyuz TMA-4 atop a Starsem booster from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 18 April 2004 at 10:19 PM CDT (03:19 19 April GMT). Aboard were Station and Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, and Flight Engineer Mike Fincke. In the third seat was ESA Astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands, on the Delta Mission. They spent the next two days chasing ISSy for rendezvous and docking, which took place at 12:01 AM (05:01 GMT) on 21 April. The three men were warmly greeted by the outgoing crew of Expedition 8. These were Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander "Sasha" Kaleri. A week of joint operations ensued, with the station being finally handed over to the Expedition 9 crew. Andre Kuipers, and the Expedition 8 crew entered their Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle to return to Earth on 29 April 2004.

During their six month stay aboard, the Expedition 9 crew carried out Four EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) and an extensive but flexible program of science. These included some 21 different experiments in five categories. These were Bioastronautics, the Physical Sciences, Space Product Development, Space Flight, and Space Biology. More can be learned about the Expedition 9 Science program Here, and Here.

With the arrival of the Expedition 10 Crew, and Cosmonaut Yuri Shargin of the Russian Space Forces, on 15 October 2004, the final week of Expedition 9 was at hand. As is usual practice, the two crews worked together for a week to familiarize the new men with their home in orbit. On 23 October at 4:08 PM CDT (21:08 GMT), the Soyuz TMA-4 undocked from ISSy for the return home. Cosmonaut Shargin was aboard with the Expedition 9 crew for the ride. A safe landing was achieved near Arkalyk Kazakhstan on 23 October at 7:36 PM CDT (00:36 24 October GMT). Expedition 9 was a productive and successful mission to ISS, and all ended very well. Total flight duration: 187 days 21 hours 17 minutes.

The above example, captured during ISS EVA 9c on 3 August 2004 from a "live" broadcast on NASA Select TV. The thruster fired before the crewmen opened the airlock hatch.

This thruster firing is typical of the small rockets used to orient ISS toward the Sun for the gathering of electric energy via the solar panels seen in the foreground. Note the absence of ice crystals, so often cited by debunkers as THE "explanation" for most of the U.F.O.s (Unidentified Flying Objects - Acronym actually coined by the US Air Force in the late 1940s) seen during so many space missions over the years. Unlike the US Shuttles, ISS gives off very little material to the local space environment. This means that when unusual objects are seen in the vicinity, during EVA, they are more difficult to explain away. Although the US Destiny Laboratory Module does expel waste water on occasion, this operation is NEVER done when crew are outside on EVA. Most waste water aboard is converted to O2 and H2 by the Russian Elektron machine in the Zvezda Service Module (Living Quarters & Life Support), with left over Hydrogen (H2) dumped overboard. Pure Hydrogen gas is invisible, however, and does not produce ice flakes or any sort of debris. Rubbish is packed into expendable Progress resupply vehicles before they are undocked to burn in the atmosphere. So, there really is no source of material to account for the objects we sometimes see from the cameras aboard ISSy. These cameras are mounted on ISSy's robotic arm (Canadarm II) and on the main Truss.

At left is a close-up photo of a thruster unit aboard the Zvezda Module of ISSy. The thruster itself is outlined by the yellow box.

In the background is the Russian Kromka experiment. This long exposure experiment is designed to evaluate the accumulation of toxic residue from thruster firings.

We provide this example of a station thruster firing for your comparison with other events presented at Project P.R.O.V.E. The more you know about how things work in space, the better your understanding of what is NOT supposed to be seen in the cameras.

There was a major difference between EVA 9c, and most others I've followed. It was not televised! Almost every spacewalk is covered on TV virtualy from beginning to end. NOT this one. We were granted a mere 12 minutes 24 seconds of television, and that was it. There were seven brief exceptions lasting a few seconds, but they were useless. The story of this aspect of EVA 9c is "The UN-Covered EVA".

For the rest of the EVA 9c story, see these pages here at Project P.R.O.V.E.

"The UN-Covered EVA"

"EVA 9c - Gennady's Dinosaurs"

"EVA 9c - The Fast Object!"

"EVA 9c - The Horizontal Object!"

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At all times during this incident, the camera and audio feed were under the control of the 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.

© 2006 Jeff Challender