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 This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.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

"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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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.

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?

"JimO" wrote in
:


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?

I don't know if 1% is the right number, but it is fairly obvious that not
all ISS debris-shedding events have been observed.


--
JRF

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

JimO wrote:

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?


Could it be shedding insulation blanket/micrometeor protection material,
like Hubble did?
Do the objects appear to have come from any particular part of its
structure, such as the U.S. or Russian modules, truss, or solar arrays?
This, combined with the air leak and unexplained "bang" are more than a
little disturbing.

Pat

Jorge R. Frank wrote:

I don't know if 1% is the right number, but it is fairly obvious that not
all ISS debris-shedding events have been observed.


Why do I get the feeling that this is related to the mysterious "bang"
sound somehow?

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:
This, combined with the air leak and unexplained "bang" are more than a
little disturbing.

I am not worried. Does anyone have any background on if this sort of stuff
happened on Mir ?

Also, remember that they have experienhts outdoors to expose various materials
to space to study their effects. It could simply be some of these things
coming loose.

What we also do not have in terms of information is how much of a shock the
progress dockings generate. It could very well be stuff from Progress.

BTW Sasha is smoking !!!! This morning, while working behind a panel, he kept
tripping the smoke alarm in that cavity ! First one was taken seriously by
both US and russian ground controllers, but once Foale noticed the detector
was right next to Shasha's head, they realised what was happening.