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.
I happen to like this one:
http://www.heavens-above.com/
It's Kucinich's BASE.
Is that view from earth or from the shuttle? A most curious image in any case.
book
From the link:
In these yet-to-be-publicly-released photographs taken by the STS-115 crew and obtained from a source by collectSPACE.com, a piece of debris is seen near the orbiter Atlantis. Credit: NASA, collectSpace.com
Thank you. It will be interesting to hear what they think it is. Perhaps they'll even positively identify it.
Sorry but I'm lost. What is the image we're talking about here? I've seen the video of the black object moving against a backdrop of Earth. Is there another image of another object available?
Looks like some type of cover sleeve or cap.
Are you talking about the "Illudium PeeU-138 Explosive Space Modulator"?
I think they up-manifested one of those on an earlier flight...DoD I think...
They are among us. Especially at Trek conventions. LOL
Sensors were reading hydraulic system activations during thruster checks. Drudge is spazzing out.
It does look like a sheet like object that is folded into an interesting position. It adds to its unusual appearance that it's nearly transparent. Or seems to be.
Thanks. I saw it earlier but I thought it was another humor post. It looks like something in the water...
Just saw the press conference and they think everything is peachy now. They're going to examine the underside early morning tomorrow to look for any TPS damage but they don't think there will be any. They think the other object is a tile shim.
Yep. They said in the press conference that there are exactly 8 movements of the hydraulics that cause a popping sound that can be heard inside the orbiter; which corresponds to the 8 events the sensors detected.
Thanks for the ping LVD! Saw about this on TV, interesting!
Heard about this on the radio driving home from work.
Interesting!
jm
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