WFTV: "Mysterious Object Floats Away From International Space Station"

JimO: Is it fair to paraphrase NASA: "We don't know what it was, so we'll
assume it wasn't important."
courtesy of http://www.spacetoday.net/weblog/index.html

Mysterious Object Floats Away From International Space Station
http://www.wftv.com/news/2828549/detail.html
POSTED: 5:01 PM EST February 6, 2004
UPDATED: 5:14 PM EST February 6, 2004

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In orbit, you don't want to hear someone say,
"What was that?!"

But, something has floated away from the International Space Station. Now,
NASA and the Russian Space Agency are trying to figure out what it was.

They don't know what it is, but astronaut Michael Foale saw it float away,
and now Mission Control is trying to determine if it came from the space
station itself or a Russian capsule that just docked with the station.

Commander Foale and cosmonaut Sasha Valerie spoke to educators this morning,
answering questions about their last mystery, a recent loss of air pressure.

"The pressure changes were very similar to changes you experience as
weather, so it was not a big shift in pressure," said Foale.

They made no mention of the object floating away from the station. Foale
reported seeing a six to eight inch piece of debris rotating slowly away
from them, passing over the Russian solar array panels.

The item was noticed just after a Russian progress capsule docked with the
station and test fired its thrusters. The first impression from Mission
Control is that it could have been anything from some propellant, to a
Velcro strap.

The science experiments continued aboard the station while Russian Mission
Control examined photographs to try and determine what it was.

A NASA spokesperson in Houston says it doesn't appear the object was vital
to the space station, and based on the way it floated away they do not
believe it will come back into contact with the space station either.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, the next American astronaut preparing to live
aboard the space station has fallen ill, leaving NASA and the Russians to
pick an entirely new team to make the next trip.

Copyright 2004 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In orbit, you don't want to hear someone
say,
"What was that?!"

No ****!


But, something has floated away from the International Space Station. Now,
NASA and the Russian Space Agency are trying to figure out what it was.

Well, it's not like they're going to do much about it.

I'd treat it like riding a motorcycle: If you're going down the road and
hear a "clink" as something drops off the bike, and you're still alive to
wonder about it five seconds later, don't worry about it. Just stop at the
next gas station, inspect the bike and calmly soil your leathers if you find
out it was important.

Doc

--
And if you wish to avoid crushing social embarrassment, it's red wine
with dwarf, white with fetus.

Semolina Pilchard

JimO wrote:

JimO: Is it fair to paraphrase NASA: "We don't know what it was, so we'll
assume it wasn't important."
courtesy of http://www.spacetoday.net/weblog/index.html


Ed White's glove? ;-) Obviously, we are running the ISS Russian
style..."we are still alive, so this is nothing to worry about."
The air leak was minor; but has anyone figured out what the "collapsing
can sound" was all about yet? That one bodes no good.

Pat

Obviously, we are running the ISS Russian
style..."we are still alive, so this is nothing to worry about."
The air leak was minor; but has anyone figured out what the "collapsing
can sound" was all about yet? That one bodes no good.

Pat


NASA management shining again.

We really need a free flying remote controlled camera to zip about the stations
ou8tside and take a look. Plus some cameras permanetely mounted to the outside
observing things 24 / 7 and sending all the images to the ground realtime for
analysis. Thats requires upgrading telmentary capabilties.

Yeah I know all this costs bucks, But the eventual alternative is being here
one day discussing a lost station and perhaps even crew. Of course that will be
followed by a out of control staton eventualy deorbioting and everything that
will go with that.

Now we return to nasa supporters here saying everything is fine dont worry
about it. just what they told me here before columbia was lost.

"JimO" wrote in message
...
| JimO: Is it fair to paraphrase NASA: "We don't know what it was, so we'll
| assume it wasn't important."
| courtesy of http://www.spacetoday.net/weblog/index.html
|
| Mysterious Object Floats Away From International Space Station
| http://www.wftv.com/news/2828549/detail.html
| POSTED: 5:01 PM EST February 6, 2004
| UPDATED: 5:14 PM EST February 6, 2004
|
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In orbit, you don't want to hear someone
say,
| "What was that?!"
|
| But, something has floated away from the International Space Station. Now,
| NASA and the Russian Space Agency are trying to figure out what it was.
|
| They don't know what it is, but astronaut Michael Foale saw it float away,
| and now Mission Control is trying to determine if it came from the space
| station itself or a Russian capsule that just docked with the station.
|
| Commander Foale and cosmonaut Sasha Valerie spoke to educators this
morning,
| answering questions about their last mystery, a recent loss of air
pressure.
|
| "The pressure changes were very similar to changes you experience as
| weather, so it was not a big shift in pressure," said Foale.
|
| They made no mention of the object floating away from the station. Foale
| reported seeing a six to eight inch piece of debris rotating slowly away
| from them, passing over the Russian solar array panels.
|
| The item was noticed just after a Russian progress capsule docked with the
| station and test fired its thrusters. The first impression from Mission
| Control is that it could have been anything from some propellant, to a
| Velcro strap.
|
| The science experiments continued aboard the station while Russian Mission
| Control examined photographs to try and determine what it was.
|
| A NASA spokesperson in Houston says it doesn't appear the object was vital
| to the space station, and based on the way it floated away they do not
| believe it will come back into contact with the space station either.
|
| Meanwhile, back on the ground, the next American astronaut preparing to
live
| aboard the space station has fallen ill, leaving NASA and the Russians to
| pick an entirely new team to make the next trip.
|

Well, I don't think you can swirl up a NASA has learnt nothing thread out of
this.

If it were important, I suspect something would be broken or not working by
now.

There are quite a few labels and such on the various modules, it appears,
and as you cannot exactly pop out and fetch it to have a look, you really
have to go with what your systems are telling you.

I do think though, that there does seem to be a lot of things breaking down
during this expedition. Maybe there is truth in the old wives tale that some
people just attract problems. Remember the collision, now who was on board
then?

:-)

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
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| Copyright 2004 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be
| published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
|


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Hallerb wrote:
We really need a free flying remote controlled camera to zip about the stations
ou8tside and take a look. Plus some cameras permanetely mounted to the outside
observing things 24 / 7 and sending all the images to the ground realtime for
analysis. Thats requires upgrading telmentary capabilties.


No, what is required is free use of the arm by crewmembers, instead of
restricting it only to pre-scripted procedures that have been rehersed 50
million times.

And yes, NASA needs to add TDRS capacity so that other users do not prevent
the station from having good KU. But in fairness, lack of consant KU doesn't
prevent the station from operating, so providing additional KU capacity is
probably a low priority item.

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 17:41:38 -0000, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:


w.

There are quite a few labels and such on the various modules, it appears,
and as you cannot exactly pop out and fetch it to have a look, you really
have to go with what your systems are telling you.


Ah, but in another twenty or thirty years, after all the repairs and
kludges and refits, after cobbling together a collection of modules
from whatever countries will pay to paint their flags on the side,
how can they claim its the same station if they've lost the number
plate?

SCO delenda est.
adress is partially sdrawkcab.

John Doe wrote in :

And yes, NASA needs to add TDRS capacity so that other users do not
prevent the station from having good KU.

Ku blockage by ISS itself creates more TDRS constraints than other users.



--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

Ah, but in another twenty or thirty years, after all the repairs and
kludges and refits, after cobbling together a collection of modules
from whatever countries will pay

What makes you think it will last anywhere near that long? Isnt its end of life
due about 2015 or so?

We now have seen two objects leaving the station, during the very brief
intervals when the crew is actually eyeballing the outside (and only about
a tenth of the departure trajectories, at that). Maybe an hour or
two per week, at most -- perhaps 1% of their time.

Can we extrapolate that dozens if not hundreds of objects have actually come
off, of which only 1% were observed?