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.
Rosie O'Fatmouth's laundry/snack bag combo
I so badly want to post an image of Quisp...
Rosie ODonnell
On the shuttle they have some very very good cameras. We are not seeing what they are seeing. Yet.
If it's something out of the cargo bay, I'm not sure why the mystery. An object of any size, missing, would be obvious, I'd think, and not too difficult to visually inspect.
I can't imagine what it could be, unless a insulation blanket came loose somehow. these things have loosened before, but never came off.
Secondly, the thruster would not jar or shake the shuttle enough to knock something loose. I'm thinking they are not saying much right now for obvious reasons. I hope ABC got it wrong but this sounds very serious.
Just my first impressions.
I say we find out.
Good point. I agree. Although I joked about it first too
And hugh! We should all clam down and try to enjoy the day.
And hugh!!
Yes, that is well known. Best place to hide something is out in the open.
John
Thx, you guys, for keeping me posted!
That's guy group died on the hill behind the subdivison I lived in in Encinitas.
They were renting it and the owner could not sell it afterwards. I they ended up tearing it down and rebuilding.
John
The gravitational effects of such a heavy object orbiting around the Earth would be catastrophic.
Lead me to your latter.
Thx!
Here is the Houston sightings link:
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_States®ion=Texas&city=Houston
Here is the generic sightings search link:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
Here is a real-time world map showing current positions and the next few orbits:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
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