Since 1 November 2000, the International Space Station has been manned continuously. The 13th Expedition Crew to ISS lifted off in their TMA-8 .Soyuz Vehicle, atop the venerable Starsem (a.k.a. Fregat) booster, from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 29 March 2006 at 8:39 PM CST (02:39 30 March GMT). The crew of the Soyuz consisted of Russian Commander Pavel Vinogradov, US Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, and Brazil's first Astronaut Marcos Pontes. Pontes spent a week aboard ISSy conducting scientific experiments.

Expedition 13 docked at the Nadir Port of the Zarya module of ISSy at 10:18 PM CST on 31 March 2006 (03:18 1 April GMT). Hatches between the spacecraft opened about 90 minutes later after safety checks. The new crewmen were warmly welcomed by the outgoing Expedition 12 crew of Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, whom had been aboard since October 2005.

For eight days, the two crews and Marcos Pontes worked together. Pontes carried out his own list of scientific experiments during his time aboard. After the transition week was over, Expedition 12 undocked and departed ISS in their Soyuz TMA-7 vehicle. They landed safely, along with Brazilian Marcos Pontes, back in Kazakhstan on 8 April 2006 at 5:47 PM CST (23:47 GMT).

Expedition 13 is expecting to host the next Space Shuttle flight, STS-121/Discovery in July 2006. This mission will be primarily re-supply, as well as return of unused equipment and completed experiments. The star of STS-121 for the space station will be the addition of a third crewmember for the first time since the Columbia disaster. His name is Thomas Reiter, a German Astronaut representing the ESA (European Space Agency). Reiter will participate in at least one EVA, and is expected to return to Earth aboard either a future Shuttle flight, or a Soyuz vehicle. This is unclear at present (May 2006).

STS-115/Atlantis may visit ISSy during Expedition 13, but this possiblity is highly dependent on the performance of Discovery on the STS-121 Flight.

The Expedition 13 increment is planning to engage in as many as four EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk). These would include two from the Russian PIRS airlock in Orlan suits, and two from the US Quest airlock in American suits. The routine for this crew is mainly involved with station maintenance and repair, and a wide variety of science experiments. They are expected to return to Earth in October 2006.

ISS needs a constant stream of supplies in order to run smoothly. There must be food, water, clothing, and other essentials for the human crew, as well as variety of eqipment and consumables for other station needs.

This is where the Russian Progress vehicles come in. Especially since the Space Shuttle fleet was grounded for over two years following the loss of Columbia in February 2003.

This veteran and reliable craft (None have ever failed in almost 30 years of operations) has been in production, and use, since 1978. It served to supply the Salyut space stations, and Space Station Mir for 23 years. It has been serving the ISS program since its inception. The Progress vehicles are completely expendable, and are usually filled with rubbish before undocking from the host station, to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere upon re-entry.

WITHOUT supplies, ISS would have to be abandoned before very much time elapsed. A severe shortage of food almost brought about this contingency in December 2004. Sloppy inventory by the Expedition 9 crew during summer 2004, had allowed food supplies to fall dangerously short. The arrival of Progress-16, with a sizeable allotment of foodstuffs and 2.5 tons of other logistics, on Christmas Day 2004 permitted the crew to remain on board. Had Progress-16 failed to dock for any reason, the Expedition 10 crew would have been forced to enter their Soyuz TMA-5 craft to return home long before their scheduled departure the following April. ISS would have become an un-manned satellite very early in 2005.

Some 20 minutes or so before final docking, Progress and ISSy were flying over a region of planet Earth known at the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). This is a portion of the Earth's magnetic field which does not behave as the rest of the global field. The existence of this place is no secret, but what happens here to TV cameras seems to be one. When "live" downlink is broadcast by NASA Select TV from this area of the globe, be it day or night, there are invariably colorful flashes and streaks in the signal. What causes this is not explained anywhere, and the INCO usually cuts the feed when he notices that it's going out to the public.

For about 55 seconds, an outside camera aboard ISSy carried a view of Progress at a range of approximately 1 km ( .6 mile). At this distance, Progress was little more than a bright light in the blackness. BUT...filling the view during the time they orbited over the SAA, were numerous white dots, and colored flashes. The colors seen were mostly green and blue, with the odd red. Many of these flashes were remeniscent of comets. When the phenomenon seemed to become more intense, the INCO closed down the iris of the camera, reducing Progress to a tiny point of light with no detail whatsover. Finally he cut away from the color camera altogether, and went to an inferior black & white view from the navigation camera aboard Progress itself.

Mr. Martyn Stubbs of Canada did a study on this phenomenon several years back. He dubbed it "The Second Phenomenon". I've observed it numerous times myself over the years, and have several examples of it posted to this website.

Previous known instances of this phenomenon are as follows. We have one from STS-101, in May 2000 at night. It was also captured during the flights of Soyuz TMA-4, and Soyuz TMA-5, in October 2004. In both of these cases, the spacecraft were again flying directly throught the SAA in the dark of night. Yet another case, in daylight from 9 May 2005, involved ISS as she traveled alone in the SAA. We even have an incident from the flight of STS-114 in summer 2005.

The phenomenon appears to be something natural. What makes it so strangely mysterious is that NASA doesn't acknowledge this phenomenon, and seems to take measures to cover it up. If it is just something related to the Earth itself, WHY try to hide it? Go ask NASA...that is if they will bother to answer you.

Next we will look at the map showing where the spacecraft were when this phenomenon manifested itself for us.

Last, but certainly not least, we give you the 25 frame animated GIF of the strange phenomenon seen during the approach of Progress 21 for docking to ISSy.

This is only the second time I have captured the phenomenon in daylight.

Notice that as the flashes intensify, the INCO stops down the iris of the station TV camera, and pans downward, AWAY from Progress. Then he simply cut the feed and went with the low quality black & white view from Progress. What is it about these colored lights which makes NASA and the INCO so nervous?

We can't tell you what this phenomenon is. We ARE convinced it is something from nature. What makes it most odd is that NASA appears to have a policy of non-acknowledgement and cover-up regarding this activity. Why? Unknown at this time, just as is the strange phenomenon itself.

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At all times during this incident, the camera was 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