The following article and videos were contributed By John Locker
- John has been imaging ISS and shuttle flights for a number
of years using ground based equipment. This article is
based on an item previously published by “Space Weather.com”
has been some discussion recently amongst UFO groups about
object spotted during the Atlantis fly-around ( STS 117 ) back
2007. Hailed by some to be similar to Storey Musgrave's "alien" worm,
and turning artefact was caught on camera as Atlantis performed
around the International Space station prior to departure.
imager, John Locker comments:
inevitable that during such complex missions as STS 117 , where
a number of EVA ( spacewalks ) are undertaken , some bits of
kit will be lost. These can range from small nuts and bolts/fasteners
, to spanners and straps/tethers.
For example , July 2006 spacewalker Piers Sellers reported
that he lost a spatula. It was nicknamed "spatsat" eventually
burning up three months later! Also observed from regular waste
dumps, are dried-up urine, toothpaste, ice
and even shaving cream. In fact its claimed that an Indonesian
satellite was damaged by frozen urine .......and worse. But
, its no joking matter. Many of these pieces of space junk
have the capacity
to kill astronauts, puncture satellites or take chunks out
of the shuttle
recent case featured an object possibly a metre or two
in length. It
is clearly seen to float between shuttle and the station, which
is just 200
metres away. Anything of this size is severely affected by
the perturbations of space and particularly short blasts by
the shuttle's manoeuvring motors....consequently it twists
what is it ?
no doubt that the object is either ISS or Atlantis related.
There are a number of options, the most obvious perhaps being
a restraint strap or short tether from the payload bay.”
about ice ?
McDade, a technology and science commentator, comments :
and chunks of ice have been flying off of spacecraft since
the Mercury days. Don't forget John Glenn's fireflies. Ice tends
to dance and roll as it sublimates in the microgravity, near
vacuum of space. It looks spooky, but a lot of things look
spooky when set into the context of a space environment. The
laws of physics don't change, but the behaviour of materials
does change when alternate G force levels, temperature extremes,
altered electrostatic effects, and a near vacuum characterize
the environment. "
leave the last word with NASA, continues John.....
Suffredini, manager of the space station program at the Johnson
in Houston adds:
separation, you may have noticed what looked like a white object
leaving the international space station, the orbiter was quite
a bit away," "We're off looking at that object
to see if it was actually a station or a shuttle object. When
we complete that review, we'll share that information with
just a mundane piece of debris that gave a great visual demonstration
of how objects behave in space. Forget the space worms......they
can stay in the fantasy world of UFOlogy.
real world is much more fascinating ! "
can see samples of John Locker’s work on his webpages
see some daylight images in which the Space Station looks remarkably
like a TIE Fighter as it streaks across the sky at 17,000
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clip from STS 115 , September 2006 , demonstrates exactly
what Jim is referring to. It shows a remarkable , Mantis
like piece of ice that has broken away. Notice how it twists
, turns and bends as it starts to break up.
Alien worm that inhabits outer-space? Afraid not
- the explanation is less exotic but far more realistic
is no doubt that, historically, there have been numerous
misidentifications and misinterpretations of incidents
and events by those involved in Ufology. This seems
especially apparent regarding the various NASA Missions.
John's article does expertly illustrate how misinformed
or mistaken some of those involved in Ufology
can be at times.
The WHY? Files invites
sensible responses to John's article - is Ufology really
of fantasy" ?
Please respond to email@example.com
state if you object to our publishing your response.