The 10th Expedition Crew to ISS lifted off in their TMA-5 Soyuz Vehicle, atop the venerable Starsem booster, from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 13 October 2004 at 10:06 PM CDT (3:06 14 October GMT). This marked the beginning of 193 days on orbit for this Crew. The crew of TMA-5 consisted of Cosmonauts Salizan Sharipov (Soyuz Commander - Expedition 10 Flight Engineer), Yuri Shargin (Russian Space Forces), and Astronaut Leroy Chiao (Expedition 10 Commander and Science Officer). Shargin returned to Earth one week later with Expedition 9 Crew aboard the TMA-4 Soyuz.

TMA-5 Docked With ISS on 15 October at 11:16 PM CDT (4:16 16 October GMT). During their six and a half month stay aboard, the Crew mounted Two EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) from the PIRS docking and airlock compartment wearing Russian Orlan Spacesuits. The EVAs took place on 26 January 2005, and 28 March 2005. Both were successful, and accomplished all their goals.

Twenty-two major scientific experiment programs (pdf file 2.49mb) were carried out during Expedition 10. These included studies in Bioastronautics, the Physical Sciences, Space Product Development, and Space Flight.

There were several nagging problems with the Elektron oxygen generating system, and the Vozdukh CO2 scrubbing equipment. These problems persisted until STS-114 / Discovery visited ISSy in July/August 2005, bringing up parts and supplies needed to finally stem the failures. Just a few days before Expedition 10 returned to Earth, another of the Control Moment Gyros failed. These are used for keeping station attitude under control. This too was repaired once and for all during the visit of STS-114.

The arrival of the Expedition 11 Crew on 16 April 2005, with Italian Astronaut Roberto Vittori, signalled the final days of Expedition 10. Sharipov, Chiao, and Vittori undocked their TMA-5 Soyuz from ISSy on 24 April 2005. They initiated their deorbit burn, and executed re-entry. They made a safe landing near Arkalyk in Kazakhstan later that same evening. Over all, Expedition 10 was a happy and successful mission.

On the chilly morning of 13 October 2004, the flight of Soyuz TMA-5 began with a rocket blast from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The liftoff and ascent to orbit were flawless, and the crew began a two day race to catch up with ISS. The morning of Saturday 16 October 2004, saw the Soyuz make a perfect docking with ISSy, in spite of the failure of the KURS automatic system. Soyuz Commander and Pilot Salizhan Sharipov was obliged to take his ship the rest of the way on manual control. (Some explanation about how the Kurs automated docking system works is available HERE. PDF File 92kb) A couple hours later, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, and crewmate Mike Fincke, opened the last hatch between the two spacecraft, and welcomed the Expedition 10 crew aboard. Along for a ten day stay was Yuri Shargin, of the Russian Space Force. Cosmonaut Shargin flew the third seat of Soyuz along with the new ISSy crew, Commander Leroy Chiao, and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov. A fine welcoming ceremony was enjoyed by all hands.

During the approach to ISSy, TMA-5 was seen to have company. There were four incidents during the hour previous to final docking. The first incident involved what I call "The Strange Phenomenon". The other three had to do with anomalous objects in space. This page will be concerned with the First of these objects. The pages dealing with the Second, and Third objects are also available on this site. The actual Docking is shown HERE.

The spacecraft had just compleated the customary "fly-around" for a visual inspection of the station exterior. At this point, the Soyuz assumed a stationary position relative to ISSy, called "station keeping". The purpose of this operation was to to await three things. A final checkout of Soyuz systems before final docking, coming into range of Russian tracking stations on the ground, and the rising of the Sun. Since the KURS automated docking system aboard Soyuz had failed, daylight was doubly important for a manual docking by Soyuz Pilot Salizhan Sharipov.

Whilst all this was going on, a camera mounted on ISSy's robot arm (Canadarm 2) was showing us on and off "live" views of Soyuz hanging out in space at a distance of about 110 meters (360 feet). It was Canadarm 2 camera which caught the first three events. Both craft were still in the compleat darkness of night at the time of these events.

ISS cameras were following the progress of the approach. As the "dot" in the field of view which was Soyuz kept its position, another object came into view when the camera was panned. This object is not to be confused with a single malfuntioning pixel in the camera itself. The bad pixel had been noted by this writer for some months previous to the event in question, so it was no surprise. (The faulty camera was replaced in July 2005, during an EVA by the STS-114 Crew)

This object was in independent motion, and due to the lack of sunshine, obviously self-luminous. The camera used in this case was mounted on Canadarm II, the robotic arm aboard the station.

Those more familiar with Shuttle operations might suspect this object to be simple ice or common debris. BUT, ISSy doesn't have what NASA Shuttle technicians jokingly refer to as "dandruff".

Water is NOT produced aboard the station as it is on Shuttles. Shuttles derive their electrical energy, and water supplies, from H2 /O2 Fuel Cells. These produce copious amounts of water, and when there's too much, it's unceremoniously dumped overboard.

This is absolutely not the case on the station. It uses passive solar arrays to generate energy from sunlight. Every drop of water used aboard ISSy must be imported from the ground. Visiting Shuttles also contribute water by filling large plastic conainers with the excess from the fuel cells. Water is so precious that even urine is converted back to H2 and O2 via electrolysis, employing a Russian device called Elektron. The oxygen is used for breathing, and the hydrogen jettisonned overboard. So, we have established that there is no source for loose flakes of ice coming from ISSy.

In the case of orbital debris, there simply is none MOST of the time. ISSy had been on orbit for a number of years now, and no new modules or components having loose bits of junk to float away, had been added since 2002.

Additionally, the control thrusters on the outside of the Zvezda module, used for maintaining control of station attitude, were inhibited during final approach. This is to prevent ISSy making any sudden movements as the Soyuz vehicle closes in for docking. (Example of an ISS Thruster Firing) Should a control thruster fire as Soyuz was coming in to dock, it could easily cause the docking port to shift position, resulting in a collision damaging Soyuz AND the Station. So we can rule out control thruster firings as a source for the anomalies.

We have prepared a visual presentation for you to see. How about we take a look at it now, OK?

Soyuz TMA-5 is the bright reddish light near center. The anomaly is circled in yellow. The red arrow indicates direction of travel.

The bright light at top is a lamp attached to ISSy. A persistently bad camera pixel is noted in another yellow circle, the the blue box outlines the area of zoom in the enhancements to come.

Please note that there is no sunshine in this scene. That means no natural light is available for illuminating ice or debris. It's dark out there folks. The anomalous object appears, therefore, to be self-luminous.

This animated GIF, and those to come compress the 16 second event into approximately 4 seconds. After the 16 second view, the INCO rapidly switched to another camera where the object was not visible.

© 2004 Heavens-Above

A chart of the night sky at the particular time in question. Since the spacecraft were sailing above western Africa at this point, this chart is based on the pre-dawn sky over Casablanca, Morocco. It's a fact that NONE of the heavenly objects in this chart were, or are, visible to the color camera NASA used to follow the approach of Soyuz TMA-5 on the morning of 16 October 2004. The Moon wasn't in the sky at this point, so it is not a factor. On the chance that Venus, above the eastern horizon might be the culprit, I checked station attitude in relation to Soyuz after the Sun rose. The TMA-5 vehicle came from the direction of deep space, or zenith. All that was "up there" was Saturn. The camera in use could not register Saturn as it is not bright enough.

Because the trajectory of this object precludes it coming from Soyuz, and ISSy doesn't normally shed ice and debris, it's hard to account for the physical presence of this object. The fact that there was no Sun in the sky strongly suggests that the anomaly was self-luminous. For these reasons, I classify this object as unknown.

***

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