20 Sep 2006
NASA Mysterious objects delay shuttle's return Atlantis remained in orbit while NASA sought to explain two mysterious objects seen floating away from the shuttle. BY MARTIN MERZER mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com
Two puzzling objects that apparently separated from Atlantis and floated near the shuttle forced NASA to delay the crew's return to Earth today and consider a variety of options. The objects could be as benign as slabs of ice or small tools, mission managers said. If so, Atlantis and six astronauts led by Brent Jett Jr. of Fort Lauderdale could land at the Kennedy Space Center as early as Thursday.
But the objects could be crucial components or chunks of the insulation that protects a shuttle during its superheated reentry through the atmosphere. If so, the crew could attempt in-flight repairs or -- in an unlikely worst-case situation -- seek refuge at the International Space Station until a rescue shuttle is launched.
''I don't want to make this overly dramatic,'' Wayne Hale, NASA's shuttle program manager, said. ``This is something that we´ve seen, we´re going to go make sure it´s safe for us to come home, and we have plans in place if it goes the other way.´´
Sensors on Atlantis' right wing registered a series of small impacts Tuesday morning, Hale said, but engineers determined that the readings were caused by routine prelanding tests of the shuttle's maneuvering jets and hydraulic systems. Still, those same tests could have shaken loose the unexplained objects. Hale hinted that he was leaning toward the more benign theory.
He said he expected more clarity on the subject today, and he emphasized that the crew was in no immediate danger. But, he said, NASA was treating the situation seriously. An undetected breach in shuttle Columbia's protective skin caused the February 2003 accident that destroyed that craft and killed its seven astronauts.
Atlantis' return had been scheduled for 5:59 a.m. EDT today at the space center in Central Florida. NASA also was concerned about an unpromising weather forecast. In the end, managers delayed Atlantis' return so they could analyze the situation. Hale said engineers were attempting to identify the objects, the first of which was spotted early Tuesday by a flight controller monitoring images beamed back by a video camera in the shuttle's cargo bay.
The second object -- possibly just a plastic bag -- was seen several hours later by the crew, which was asked to conduct a special inspection of the craft today, using cameras mounted on the shuttle. The astronauts will look for anything that had been stowed in the open cargo bay and was no longer there -- and they will look for damage to the shuttle's protective skin.
Though supplies of oxygen, fuel, food and water are limited, the shuttle can land Thursday, Friday or Saturday in Florida or at landing strips in California or New Mexico. _______________________________________
Space Shuttle Ufo Mystery Deepens Wednesday September 20, 04:16 PM
Three more unidentified objects have been spotted floating in space close to the shuttle Atlantis. It comes after the discovery of another mysterious object delayed the craft's return to earth from the International Space Station. Atlantis commander Brent Jett described two of the new objects as rings and the third as a piece of foil.
He told Mission Control the crew noticed the first object about 100 feet from the shuttle. He said it looked like "a reflective cloth or a mechanic looking-cloth. "It's not a solid metal structure. It doesn't look like anything I've seen outside the shuttle," he added.
The astronauts spotted the objects during an extensive inspection of Atlantis. They were trying to find out if its heat shield had been damaged by another object which had apparently floated off the ship. Jett suggested the three objects might have come from the Russian Soyuz vehicle, which has docked with the space station shortly before.
But Mission Control told him the Soyuz was too far away to make that likely. Atlantis and its six-member crew left the station on Sunday with the aim of landing in Florida today.
The next window for them to land will come mid-morning UK time on Thursday.
Engineers are also trying to work out what caused a series of eight vibrations picked up by sensors embedded in the shuttle's right wing.
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