Posted on 09/19/2006 8:53:59 AM PDT by Kaslin
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA mission controllers are tracking a mystery object hovering between the space shuttle Atlantis and Earth, and traveling at roughly the same speed as the orbiter, agency officials said Tuesday.
“Right now they’re just tying to figure out exactly what it is, how far away it is,” NASA spokesperson Kimberly Harle told SPACE.com. “It’s pretty much assessing the whole situation.”
arle said that at 2:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT), just after Atlantis completed a check of its reaction control thrusters, the instrumentation and communications officer at NASA’s shuttle Mission Control room at Johnson Space Center noted an object between the orbiter and Earth, and traveling at about the same speed of the spacecraft.
Flight controllers are now using video cameras mounted along Atlantis’ robotic arm and payload bay to survey visible areas of the orbiter, including its wing leading edges and other vital heat shield areas, Harle said.
“Everything is still under assessment,” Harle said.
For now, Atlantis’ STS-115 shuttle crew will not stow their Ku-band antenna – the primary video and data link to Earth – to allow flight controllers to continue to study the object.
NASA is broadcasting Atlantis’ STS-115 mission to the ISS live via NASA TV. You are invited to follow the shuttle's progress using SPACE.com's NASA TV feed, which is available by clicking here or using the button at the left.
It's too soon. First contact doesn't happen for another 57 years...
I think I know which church you are speaking off. In fact, I use to attend it every once in while. It was on the left heading south on El Camino Real with the Greek church on the right and then you came to the school.
John
Too soon? Dewd, read my tagline.
Me, too. I think the worst case scenario is that they have to re-dock with ISS and descend using Soyuz capsules. ISS isn't capable of supporting that many people but they could probably find a temporary way to do it. But if that happened the orbiter might be lost. OTOH, they might be able to keep it attached and send up a repair package. Hopefully it's nothing and they can return safely on the orbiter.
Maybe its the guy replicator from SG-1 Atlantis
I just made sure they weren't circling mine.
The water dump valve is on the port side, near the hatch. It's not possible to see the dump nozzle from inside. I seem to recall that, in the past, there have been large balls of ice buildup there, which have broken off and floated nearby.
I hope that's all it is.
The Martian Air Defenses finally sending out probes in an attempt to figure out what we're doing?
LOL
Interesting, thank you.
Then you should know First Contact doesn't happen until 2063.
Naw, I'm talking Houston. Applegate or whatever his name is used to teach at St. Thomas University, thirty years ago or something. A friend had his class.
Priors.
"Time to put you out of my misery, Mr. Bond"
Michael Lonsdale
Me, too.
When Rodney McKay is the BEST character on a show, that is a very very bad thing.
When Connor Trinneer is brought in to HELP your show, that is a bad thing.
Well, Kolya was great, no question.
But the Weir-Sheppard-Teyla trio are embarassing, especially Weir (At least I have the guts to make horrible decisions every episode! are you kidding me? If we torture someone the wraith have already won! gag me ...) and Ronon is severely underutilized.
Rescue Shuttle to be on standby
Flight International ^ | 08/08/06
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1679610/posts
Lousy movie, but great bad guy.
Could it be "The Mother Ship?
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