My name is Jeff Challender, and I have been recording NASA Shuttle flights live for several years now.  I would like now to explain how all this came to be.

On 4 October, 1957 the launch of the world's first artificial satellite by the USSR caught the West by surprise. I was forever after interested in space exploration. I closely followed the US space program throughout the next four decades. With the opening up of Russia in the early 1990s, information about the Soviet/Russian space program became much more accessible. I began to find out all possible about this hitherto murky history. The Mir Space Station also was a prime focus for me. I learnt all I could in this area and, and with the inauguration of ISS construction in 1998, I began to keep close watch on it, and the continuing Shuttle program. This continues to be an ongoing project. The demise of Mir in March 2001 was a sad chapter in the annals of human space exploration. It is a pity that she could not have been boosted into a "mothball" orbit, and saved for the historical education of future generations.

In 1965, I became an amateur astronomer, joining the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society. I won the SVAS' Samuel J. Smythe award in 1967, and was president of the Jr. Section of the SVAS for two terms in 1968 and 1969. My education in astronomy continues to this day. I also studied meteorology in University, and have been a life long aviation enthusiast. I have seen, and can identify, most aircraft/spacecraft built in the last 60 years. These include American, Russian, British, French, Italian, Swedish, German, Canadian, Australian, Chinese, and Japanese. That list also includes fixed wing, rotating wing, and lighter than air.

Starting with the STS-86 flight to Mir in September 1997, I began to make tapes of Shuttle missions from live feed provided by NASA Select TV. The purpose was to chronicle the flights day by day, and to edit the resulting raw footage down to a personal video documentary for my own enjoyment. Space flights I have recorded to date (21 March 2005) include (chronological order) STS-86, 89, 91, 88, 96, 103, 99, 101, 106, 92, 97, 98, 102, 100, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110, STS-111, STS-112, STS-113, the ill-fated last flight of Columbia STS-107, 114, 121, and the ongoing ISS project.

I became interested in the UFO phenomenon in the mid-1960s, reading everything I could find on the subject. I have been witness to five daylight UFO events, and one at night. These sightings occurred on 10 April 1974, 31 December 1974, and 24 March 1998, 27 December 2000, 11 January 2002, 2 July 2002, and most recently to date 12 May 2004. When the Shuttle taping project began, there was no anticipation of finding any UFOs. I was not looking for anomalies, which turned up on these missions. When I first noticed an unusual object during the editing phase of STS-96, it was completely unexpected. I was inspired to take a closer look at all of my video archive, and to more closely scrutinize other people's work in this area.

Project P.R.O.V.E., People Recording Orbiting Vehicles from Earth began as a result of an experiment. Making a recording an overhead pass of STS-98/Atlantis, in February 2001. I had acquired my first camcorder in January of 2001. It was a very new experience to be able to make taped recordings of events around the home. I had no idea that it would become such a crucial part of my U.F.O. research. When STS-98 lifted off on the afternoon of 7 February, 2001, it was predicted at the Heavens-Above website that she would pass over Sacramento on her second orbit, just three hours later. My family and I stepped out into the chilly winter evening to see it, and I brought along the new camcorder to record the event. The pass recorded nicely, and it was surprisingly easy to do. At this point, I had not yet conceived of the project as it came to be, though.

Later on, in March 2001, whilst watching tapes of the live feed from the payload bay cameras aboard STS-102/Discovery, a stunning sequence of events unfolded over eastern Washington State, just before dawn there. A number of anomalous objects were seen. I wondered to myself if a friend living in that area might have seen those objects from the ground, had he been outdoors at that particular moment. From this thought, Project P.R.O.V.E. was born.  I have continued to record overhead passes of man-made spacecraft ever since.

In January 2003, a major metropolitan newpaper, The Sacramento Bee, did a two page article on Jeff Challender's work. It was mirrored in a number of locations, and was the feature article in the April 2003 MUFON Journal. See it HERE courtesy of MUFON Indiana. PLEASE disregard the advertisement for the movie "What Is The Truth?" at the end. This movie is no longer available.

 (NOTE: As an organization, Project P.R.O.V.E. no longer exists)

© 2005 Jeff Challender