On 2 October 1991, Soyuz- TM-13- lifted off from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan S.S.R. A Starsem booster was used to power the spacecraft into orbit on its two day mission to rendezvous and dock with space station Mir.

On board were three crewmen. Commanding was veteran Cosmonaut Alexandr Volkov. He was accompanied by Cosmonaut Researcher Toktar Aubakirov, and Austrian Cosmonaut Researcher Franz Viehbock. Aubakirov was flying this mission for political reasons. As the Soviet Union was to dissolve later that year, the Russians accomodated him to encourage Kazakhstan to continue allowing the use of Baykonur. The Austrian government paid the equivalent of $7 million USD for Viehbock's trip.

Thus began the flight of Mir Expedition 10. After docking on 4 October, the TM-13 crew were received by outgoing Commander of Expedition 9. Anatoli Artsebarsky, and his Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalov. As TM-13 had two passengers and no Flight Engineer, Krikalov was obliged to stay on for another increment as Expedition 10 Flight Engineer. Following a week of joint crew operations, Soyuz TM-12 departed Mir on 15 October for the return home with Artsebarsky, Aubakirov, and Viehbock aboard.

Expedition 10 carried out its mission during the winter of 1991/92, experiencing numerous problems with equipment breakdowns. Also, the crew reported serious damage to the outer hull, and solar panels, due to collisions with space debris and micrometeroids. During this increment, two cargo frighters in the form of Progress 10 and 11 came and went. Progress 10 had trouble docking with the Kvant module because of damage to the docking ring, but this was repaired and docking was achieved a day late. A single 4 hour 12 minute EVA was performed on 20 February 1992.

The crew of Expedition 11 arrived via Soyuz TM-14 on 19 March 1992. The TM-14 crew consisted of Commander Alexandr Viktorenko, Flight Engineer Alexandr Kaleri, and German Cosmonaut Researcher Klaus-Dietrich Flade. After handing Mir over to the Expedition 11 crew, Volkov, Krikalev, and Flade returned to Earth in Soyuz TM-13 on 25 March 1992. Total flight time for Expedition 10: 175 days 2 hours 53 minutes with 2,730 orbits. For Cosmonaut Krikalev it was 320 continuous days in space.

During the six month mission, when time allowed, the Cosmonauts used black and white television cameras to record what was happening outside. On one occaision as a camera was pointed out a window, a distant white object was seen cruising at high speed, in daylight, over the broken clouds of Earth's atmosphere far below.

The video clip was captured from the Quest Publications video "The Smoking Gun". The film came to them by way of Italian U.F.O. researchers. This is why the introduction frame is in Italian.

Let's begin our exploration of the film then, shall we?

What was that object? If it were just a satellite passing in a lower orbit, it seems highly unlikely that veteran Cosmonauts would consider it strange. Yet they took the trouble to film this object as it skimmed at high speed above the clouds far below.

Since it is seen against the daylight Earth, an astronomical body is out of the question. And a meteor is also not the explanation. Meteors are invisible above the atmosphere, and when plunging into the air at their blistering speeds, burn out in a second or two. They do not persist for almost two minutes.

This object is not ice or debris either. They are only visible at close distances. Because in the original film shot by the Cosmonauts, powerful telescopic zoom was used to make the anomaly visible on the film, it stands to reason that the object was quite far away, perhaps many miles/kilometers.

So, based on the reasons cited above, I must classify this object as unknown.

At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.

© 2006 Jeff Challender