Mission Highlights STS-80

November 1996

(Published by NASA Johnson Space Center in early 1997, and transcribed by me for posting here. Credit NASA)

Double deploys Highlight  Mission

An early morning landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia ended a more than 17-day mission to deploy and retrieve two science satellites, one that studied stars and another that made thin film wafers. Pilot Kent Rominger recounted how impressive it was to see the trailing satellites at sunrise. “It was incredible having two satellites out there at the same time. In the morning when the sun would rise, they were just tremendously bright stars, trailing along behind us.”

Mission Specialist Tamara Jernigan reflected on how a stuck hatch would give the space program an advantage in future flights. ”This flight offered all of us a bit of everything the space program has to offer,” Jernigan said. “It offered the excitement of two deploys, rendezvous and retrievals, and also the frustration of a hatch that wouldn’t open and EVAs left undone. I bet it is a long, long time before we ever have another hatch problem. NASA will make the most of the lesson it has learned.”

Mission Specialist Story Musgrave recounted that the long mission gave him a sense of what space is all about. ”This mission was long enough so you had some time to stop and think about what space was about,” Musgrave said. “Time to have an experience of space to explore the heavens, to explore the Earth and think about what that is all about and get a feel for space.”

In addition to setting a record for the longest shuttle flight to date, Astronaut Musgrave reached a few milestones for himself. His sixth shuttle flight tied him with John Young for the most space flights by any human being. In addition, at age 61, Musgrave became the oldest person ever to fly in space.

Mission Events

The Space Shuttle Columbia returned to space for the 21st time at 1:55 p.m. CST, November 19, 1996. Its scientific mission was to study stars, produce improved semiconductor films and practice building the International Space Station.

Mission specialist Tammy Jernigan released the Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (ORFEUS) from Columbia’ s robot arm November 20, about 10:11 p.m. CST. Three hours later, ground controllers observed the telescope door opening and noted that the instrument appeared to be working properly, beginning two weeks of gathering data on the origin and makeup of stars.

While Columbia led the ORFEUS­ SPAS spacecraft, the five astronauts concentrated their attention on other activities aboard the orbiter including testing the Space Vision System, conducting a visual checkout of the Wake Shield Facility (WSF) and working with middeck experiments. Other experiments conducted by the crew included VIEW-CPL, an investigation of capillary pumped loop equipment in weightlessness designed by University of Maryland students. Such technology may be used in cooling systems for future spacecraft, allowing fluids to be pumped without the use of moving parts.

Astronaut Tom Jones unberthed the WSF from its latched position in the shuttle cargo bay Friday, November 22, at 2:56 p.m.  Jones positioned the satellite over the left-hand edge of the cargo bay with the WSF underside facing into the direction of travel. This position allows atomic oxygen to “cleanse” the satellite’s underside in preparation for its experiment operations. The crew released the WSF at 7:38 p.m. CST.

The first growth of thin films on the back side of the WSF began Saturday, November 23, at 6:37 p.m. CST. The film growths continued while the WSF flew free of the Orbiter.

Commander Ken Cockrell took the shuttle to within 35 feet of the WSF Monday, November 25, and Astronaut Tom Jones latched the mechanical arm onto it about 8:01 p.m. CST. The satellite’s scientists reported they completed seven thin film growths of semiconductor materials, the maximum capability for the satellite.

The WSF again was unberthed at 6:06 p.m. CST November the 27, for 3.5 hours of work with the Atomic Oxygen Processing experiment. With work to produce aluminum oxide films using the atomic oxygen available in low-Earth orbit going well, scientists were granted an extra 3 hours to finish their work and test the Orbiter Space Vision System’s ability to provide precise information on the WSF’s position in the cargo bay.

Plans for a spacewalk by astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Tom Jones were abandoned after the airlock outer hatch failed to open. A post flight analysis of the hatch revealed a loose screw was the problem.

Although the planned space walks were canceled, crew members took advantage of the micro­gravity environment of space to evaluate the Pistol Grip Tool in the cabin. Jernigan, Jones and Musgrave evaluated the tool while tightening and loosening a bolt on the middeck floor to evaluate the tool’s operation in weightlessness.

Scientists were given an extra day of science gathering with the extension of the STS-80 mission. The ORFEUS­ SPAS satellite was captured from its orbit using the robotic arm about 2:26 a.m. CST, Wednesday December 3. Jernigan, Jones and Musgrave performed about four hours of robot arm operations with ORFEUS-SPAS prior to locking the satellite in the payload bay at 7:14 a.m.

A second extra day in space was granted to the five astronauts aboard Columbia when fog prevented a landing at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and high winds on the Mojave Desert meant that Edwards Air Force Base also was not available. NASA’s final shuttle mission of 1996 concluded at 5:49 a.m. CST, December 7, with a landing at Kennedy Space Center.

Payload Descriptions

ORFEUS-SPAS II:  The Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph-Shuttle Pallet Satellite IT (ORFEUS-SPAS II) mission was the third flight to use the German-built ASTRO-SPAS science satellite. The ASTRO-SPAS program is a cooperative endeavor between NASA and the German Space Agency, DARA. ORFEUS-SPAS II, a free-flying satellite, was deployed and retrieved using Columbia’ s Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The goal of this astrophysics mission was to investigate the rarely explored far- and extreme-ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and study the very hot and very cold matter in the universe.

ORFEUS-SPAS II attempted a large number of observing programs. Among the many areas in which scientists hoped to gain new insights during this mission was the evolution of stars, the structure of galaxies, and the nature of the interstellar medium, and others. Many of the objects they looked at had never before been observed in the far-ultraviolet.

ASTRO-SPAS is a carrier designed for launch, deployment and retrieval by the space shuttle. Once deployed from the shuttle’s RMS, ASTRO-SPAS operated quasi-autonomously for 14 days in the vicinity of the shuttle. After completion of the free flight phase, the satellite was retrieved by the RMS, returned to the shuttle cargo bay and returned to Earth.

The one-meter diameter ORFEUS telescope with the Far Ultraviolet (FUV) Spectrograph and the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Spectrograph comprised the main payload. A secondary, but highly complementary, payload was the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS). In addition to the astronomy payloads, ORFEUS-SPAS II carried the Surface Effects Sample Monitor (SESAM), the ATV Rendezvous Pre-Development Project (ARP), and the Student Experiment on ASTRO-SPAS (SEAS).

The ORFEUS-SPAS II mission was dedicated to astronomical observations at very short wavelengths, specifically the two spectral ranges Far Ultraviolet and Extreme Ultraviolet. This part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is obscured by the Earth’s atmosphere and not observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, includes a high density of spectral lines (especially from various states of hydrogen and oxygen), which are emitted or absorbed by matter covering a wide range of temperatures.

The primary scientific objectives were:

• Investigation of the nature of hot stellar atmospheres
• Investigation of cooling mechanisms of white dwarf stars
• Investigation of supernova remnants
• Investigation of the interstellar medium and potential star forming regions

The Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS) was a separate instrument, attached to the ASTRO-SPAS framework. IMAPS operated independently of the ORFEUS telescope. IMAPS operated for more than two days of free flight and during that time observed the brightest galactic objects at extremely high resolutions. This resolution allows study of fine structure in interstellar gas lines. The individual motions of interstellar gas clouds can be determined to an accuracy of 1.6 kilometers per second.

Another science payload was the Surface Effects Sample Monitor (SESAM), a passive carrier for state­ of-the-art optical surfaces and potential future detector materials. SESAM investigated the impact of the space environment on materials and surfaces in different phases of a space shuttle mission, from launch, orbit phase to re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Among the SESAM samples were witness samples to the telescope mirror, allowing for accurate calibration measurements after landing. Sample spaces were available to scientific and industrial users.

The ATV Rendezvous Pre­Development Project (ARP), part of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), was an element of the European manned space transportation program. Among the objectives of the ARP were to develop and validate ground simulation facilities; develop and demonstrate on-board control software and in­orbit relative GPS capabilities; and to demonstrate the operation of the optical rendezvous sensor in orbit.

The Student Experiment on ASTRO-SPAS (SEAS) was an electrolysis experiment built by students of the German high school of Ottobrunn. It consisted of eight experiment chambers containing various metal salt solutions and two electrodes. Metal “trees” of different shapes were grown on one electrode. Photographs taken of this process during the mission were compared to those of identical experiments conducted on the ground under the full influence of Earth’s gravity.

DARA SCHOOL PROJECT:  For this second ORFEUS-SPAS mission, DARA developed an innovative educational program designed to reach students in 170 German schools teaching astronomy, physics and computer science. The classes were tailored to prepare the students to use ORFEUS­ SPAS data in the study of general astronomy, the life and death of stars, stellar spectral analysis, as well as how to work with the data on computers via the Internet. DARA supplied the necessary written course information and developed an ORFEUS-SPAS Internet home page, where students received and worked directly with the data obtained during the mission.

WAKE SHIELD FACILITY-3 (WSF-3):  The WSF-3 was a 12-foot diameter, free-flying, stainless steel disk designed to generate an “ultra­ vacuum” environment in space in which to grow semiconductor thin films for use in advanced electronics. The STS-80 crew deployed and retrieved the WSF during the 17-day mission using Columbia’s “robot arm,” or Remote Manipulator System.

Wake Shield was sponsored by the Space Processing Division in NASA’s Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. It was designed, built and operated by the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center at the University of Houston-a NASA Commercial  Space Center, in conjunction with its industrial partner, Space Industries, Inc., also in Houston.

Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) space has only a moderate natural vacuum, one that can be greatly improved through the generation of an “ultra vacuum” wake behind an object moving through orbit. The unique ultra vacuum produced in the wake of the WSF has been shown in past flights to be 100 to 1,000 times better than the best operating ground-based laboratory chamber vacuums. Using this ultra­vacuum in space, the WSF had already grown the highest purity aluminum gallium arsenide thin films, and holds the promise of producing the next generation of semiconductor materials along with the devices they make possible.

The major objective of this third flight of WSF is to grow thin “epitaxial” films which could have a significant impact on the micro-electronics industry because the use of advanced semiconducting thin film materials in electronic components holds a very promising economic advantage. The commercial applications for high quality semiconductor devices are most critical in the consumer technology areas of personal communications systems, fiber optic communications, high-speed transistors and processors, and opto­electronic devices.

The Space Experiment Module (SEM) was a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Shuttle Small Payloads Project education initiative that provided increased educational access to space. The program targeted kindergarten through university level participants. SEM stimulated and encouraged direct student participation in the creation, development, and flight of zero-gravity and microgravity experiments on the space shuttle.

SEM’s first flight included a number of experiments sponsored by the Charleston, SC, school district (CAN­DO). Their experiments included Gravity & Acceleration Readings, Bacteria-Agar Research Instrument, Crystal Research in Space, Magnetic Attraction Viewed in Space, and numerous passive items such as algae, bones, yeast, and photographic film.

Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, also sponsored a number of experiments:  Fluid Thermal Convection, NADH Oxidase Absorbence in Shrimp, and a Passive Particle Detector experiment.

Hampton Elementary School in Lutherville, MD, experimented with seeds, soil, chalk, crayon, calcite, Silly Putty, bubble solution, popcorn, mosquito eggs, and other organic compounds.

Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, IL, had a Surface Tension experiment. Albion Jr. High in Strongville, OH, flew a heat transfer experiment and studied the heating properties of copper tubes and pennies. Poquoson Middle School in Poquoson; VA, conducted a Bacteria Inoculation in Space experiment and NORSTAR (Norfolk Public Schools Science and Technology Advanced Research) in Norfolk, VA, observed the behavior of immiscible fluids.

NIH-R4 was the fourth in a series of collaborative experiments developed by NASA and the National Institutes of Health. NASA’s Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, was the experiment developer.

Principal investigator of the NIH­R4 experiment, “Calcium, Metabolism and Vascular Function After Space Flight,” was the Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland. For many years, they investigated the role of calcium in blood pressure regulation. Calcium has long been recognized as a critical mineral in the nor­ mal development and function of bone and muscle. These researchers were among the first to demonstrate that calcium also is essential for normal cardiovascular function.

This study added to the body of knowledge necessary to maintain the health of astronauts during space flight. In addition, it added new and exciting data to a growing body of evidence that calcium is a mineral with myriad functions critical to the normal function of human life on Earth.

NASA/CCM-A is one in a series of bone cell experiments conducted aboard the space shuttle. Results from a previous shuttle flight, NIH.C4 on STS-69, indicate that bone is affected by microgravity at the cellular level. The investigators participating in the STS-80 CCM-A mission hope to confirm their previous findings, and further test the hypothesis that the absence of gravity has a negative effect on bone formation.

Weightlessness results in bone loss in astronauts, similar to what occurs in people who undergo prolonged bed rest or, in some cases, lose the use of one of their limbs due to injury or disease. The exact cause of the bone loss is not yet clear, but it is at least partially due to decreased activity of osteoblasts, the cells which produce the matrix which mineralizes to become bone. Weightlessness results in similar decreased bone formation in both rodents and humans. Results from this experiment help scientists determine the usefulness of cultured bone cells in understanding how the acceleration due to gravity functions to maintain bone cell activity. The Principal Investigator for this study was the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Osteoblast adhesion and phenotype in microgravity:  Among the unanswered questions of bone loss during space flight are the direct effects that microgravity exerts on bone cells, and the mechanisms by which these cells recognize changes in gravity. This study focused on bone cells of the osteoblast family, which synthesize bone matrix and also may participate in its breakdown (resorption) by regulating the formation and activity of bone-resorbing cells, osteoblasts.

The investigators of this study were the Departments of Orthopedics, and Ophthalmology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY. The project was sponsored by NASA’s Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications Small Payloads Program, and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases.

BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN CANISTER (BRIC):  Although various effects of microgravity on plants have been observed, little is known about the underlying mechanisms involved. BRlC-09 studied the influence of microgravity on genetically altered tomato and tobacco seedlings that had been modified to contain elements of soybean genes. This study provided information about plants’ molecular biology and insight into the transport and distribution mechanisms for hormones within plants. The research provides crucial information on how to improve growth rates and biomass production of space-grown plants as well as information on how to enhance crop productivity on the Earth. The improvement of growth rate and biomass production of space­ grown plants is particularly useful for the development of life support systems to support crews over long­ duration flights. The improvement of growth and biomass production of space-grown plants also is an important step toward commercial application of space using plants as bioreactors for pharmaceutical products and for other commercial purposes. The principal investigator was, Kansas State University, Division of Biology, Manhattan, KS.

COMMERCIAL MDA ITA EXPERIMENT (CMIX-5): CMIX-5 was the last in a series of five shuttle flights linking NASA and the University of Alabama/Huntsville (UAH) Consortium for Materials Development in Space, with flight hardware privately developed by Instrumentation Technology Associates (ITA) of Exton, PA.

UAH research included diabetes treatment; cell reaction in microgravity that may lead to tissue replacement techniques; the development of gene combinations that are toxic to insect pests but not harmful to other species, thus creating a natural pesticide; and an environmental monitoring model using mysid shrimp.

A key activity for ITA was the ongoing effort to grow large protein crystals of urokinase for research linked to breast cancer inhibitors. There was also an ITA materials analysis study to see if the use of sealants in microgravity can lead to better protection of ntional monuments against acid rain. ITA also sponsored seven elementary and high school research activities as well as experiments linked to the National Space Society and the International Space University.

VISUALIZATION IN AN EXPERIMENTAL WATER CAPILLARY PUMPED LOOP (VIEW­CPL):  This technology was an option for spacecraft thermal management. A CPL collects and transports excess heat generated by spacecraft instruments. The heat is transported to a spacecraft radiator for rejection into space. Requiring no mechanical pump, a CPL can transport more energy for longer distances than heat pipes currently used today.

The purpose of the STS-80 experiment was to help develop a complete understanding of CPL physics in a microgravity environment by viewing the fluid flow inside the evaporator. VIEW-CPL was developed by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Maryland at College Park, as part of NASA’s In-Space Technology Experiment Program (IN­ STEP).

CREW BIOGRAPHIES

Commander: Kenneth D. Cockrell. Cockrell, 46, was born, in Austin, TX. He received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas and a master of science degree in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida.

Cockrell was selected as an astronaut by NASA in January 1990 and became qualified for a flight assignment July 1991. A veteran of three space flights, including STS-56 in 1993 and STS-69 in 1995, he has logged more than 906 hours in space.

Pilot: Kent V. Rominger (CMDR, USN). Rominger, 40, was born in Del Norte, CO. He received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Rominger reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992 and after completing the one year of required training became qualified for future flight assignment. He made his first space flight from Oct. 20 to Nov. 5, 1995, on STS-73 during which Rominger served as pilot. With the completion of STS-80, Rominger has logged more than 806 hours in space.

Mission Specialist:  Tamara  E. Jernigan (Ph.D.). Jernigan, 37, was born in Chattanooga, TN. She received a bachelor of science degree in physics (with honors) and a master of science degree in engineering science from Stanford University. Jernigan also earned a master of science degree in astronomy from the University of California-Berkeley and a doctorate in space physics and astronomy from Rice University. Jernigan was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1985 and became an astronaut in July 1986. A veteran of four space flights, Jernigan was a mission specialist on STS-40 in 1991 and STS-52 in October 1992. She was the payload commander on STS- 67 in March 1995 and with the completion of STS-80 has logged more than 1,278 hours in space.

Mission Specialist: Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.). Jones, 41, was born in Baltimore, MD. He received a bachelor of science degree in basic sciences from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, and a doctorate in planetary science from the University of Arizona in Tucson. After a year of training following his selection by NASA in January 1990, Jones became an astronaut in July 1991. In 1994, he flew as a mission specialist on successive flights of Space Shuttle Endeavour and the Space Radar Laboratory payload. His first flight was in April 1994 on STS-59 and then in October 1994 on STS-68, he served as payload commander for Space Radar Lab 2. With the completion of STS-80, Jones has logged more than 963 hours in space.

Mission Specialist:   Story Musgrave (MD). Musgrave, 61, was born in Boston, MA, but considers Lexington, KY, to be his hometown. He received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and statistics from Syracuse University, a master of business administration degree in operations analysis and computer programming from the University of California at Los Angeles, a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Marietta College, a doctorate in medicine from Columbia University, New York, NY, a master of science in physiology and biophysics from the University of Kentucky, and a master of arts in literature from the University of Houston. Musgrave was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. A veteran of six space flights, Musgrave was a mission specialist on STS-6 in 1983, STS-51 F in 1985, STS-33 in 1989 and STS-44 in 1991. He was the payload commander on STS-61 in 1993 and with the completion of STS-80 has logged more than 1,282 hours in space. His sixth flight tied him with John Young’s record for most number of space flights by any human being and, at age 61, made him the oldest person ever to fly in space.

The STS-80 mission patch depicts Space Shuttle Columbia and the two research satellites its crew deployed into the blue field of space. The uppermost satellite is ORFEUS-SPAS (Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph-Shuttle Pallet Satellite), a telescope aimed at unraveling the life cycles of stars and understanding the gases that drift between them. The lower satellite is the Wake Shield Facility, flying for the third time. It used the vacuum of space to create advanced semiconductors for the nation’s electronics industry. ORFEUS and Wake Shield are joined by the symbol of the Astronaut Corps, representing the human contribution to scientific progress in space. The two bright blue stars represent the mission’s space walks, final rehearsals for techniques and tools to be used in assembly of the International Space Station. Surrounding Columbia is a constellation of 16 stars, one for each day of the mission, representing the stellar talents of the ground and flight team that share the goal of expanding knowledge through a permanent human presence in space.

IS-1996-11-001.080JSC

www.AstronautTomJones.com

Our Space Radar Lab 1 crew on Endeavour, STS-59, took this shot into the heart of the Andes during the first week of our Mission to Planet Earth. This view looks across the Andes from orbit, about 134 miles above Valparaiso and Santiago, Chile.

The backbone of the Andes runs from upper left to lower right, with north at upper left, south to lower right. The highest reaches of the Andes are topped with snow and ice in mid-April (early autumn in the southern hemisphere). The prominent M-shaped peak at center-left, beneath the smooth basin, is Cerro Mercedario, the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range and the eighth-highest mountain of the Andes. Mercedario rises to 6720 meters, about 22,050 feet.

South of Mercedario, just left of center, is the prominent white peak of Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of Asia, at 6,961 metres (22,838 ft), and by extension the highest point in both the Western and Southern hemispheres. Aconcagua is not a volcano, but an upthrust block of the Andes lifted by the collision of the Nazca tectonic plate with the South American plate. 

At top center is the city of San Juan, lying beneath the bread-loaf-shaped ridge to the east of those eroded ridgelines at upper left. The salt lake Lago Pampa de las Salinas is the arrowhead-shaped lake at top center.

The exceptionally clear air over the Andes and the mountains’ ruggedness make this view almost three-dimensional. It’s almost as if I’m back up there!

Here is a Google Maps view for orientation:

Read my chapter “Seeing Space” in “Ask the Astronaut” for more perspectives on Earth, at AstronautTomJones.com.

 

During the week of April 11, 2011, the FBI released some of its investigation records on UFOs. The reports reflect the reality that people do see unexplained phenomena in the sky. Are these sightings evidence for intelligent life elsewhere, or some secret flight testing program?

Much UFO speculation in the past has focused on one of my shuttle missions, STS-80, flown in late 1996. Some have maintained that video shot during this Columbia space shuttle flight provides evidence for unknown objects moving in the night sky. I have reviewed this video (for the first time in 1997), and conclude that it shows commonplace and well-known objects near the shuttle, all of them observed on every shuttle flight. These videos show low-light television camera images of ice particles or man-made debris drifting out of Columbia’s cargo bay, and floating in the vicinity of the shuttle, likely within a few tens of feet of the orbiter.

I have seen these snippets of STS-80 video many times since our flight. These video scenes were recorded by remote control, under ground command, with flight controllers in Houston’s Mission Control operating our low-light TV camera in the cargo bay. As far as I remember, nobody on the crew was looking out the window at these ice crystals or debris particles. Nobody thought anything that our crew observed out the window was of “alien” origin, or something not connected to the shuttle’s routine operations (e.g. a large rotating disk or any such unusual structure). Once you understand what the solar illumination conditions are (orbital twilight, with darkness below and sunlight at our altitude), it’s easy to conclude that the video shows normal small ice and debris particles drifting aimlessly away from the orbiter, with some pieces becoming sunlit as they move out of the shuttle’s shadow. During our science operations, robotic satellite deployments and grapples, and robot arm tests and exercises, we routinely noticed these ice particles and debris catching the brilliant sunlight outside. But these sightings were non-events for us, as we understood what we were seeing completely.

Both the flight crew and Mission Control are always attentive to particles seen outside the windows, or on payload bay cameras. Such sightings could be clues to spacecraft problems, such as a vital piece of equipment that has shaken loose. Those sightings need to be reported ASAP and openly discussed — is it a fuel leak, or a piece off the rudder, or damage to the TPS (tiles), or other bad news? Crewmembers and flight controllers have no reason to ever keep it secret or to keep these discussions off normal radio channels.

Aside from details of specific Defense Department payloads and their deployments, astronauts have no classification regulations or rules preventing anyone from discussing anything they’ve seen or experienced on space flights. No secret non-disclosure signatures, no secret threats, no secret brainwashing–we communicate openly with the public. What we get, you get. What we see that’s unusual, we tell you about.

I have spent many hours gazing out the shuttle windows during my 53 days in orbit, under all lighting and orbiter attitude conditions. The objects seen in the STS-80 videos are ordinary debris particles or ice crystals, some hit by shuttle thruster blasts that cause a change in their motion. Local lighting conditions also change the brightness of some objects as they drift into or out of shadow. I have never seen any evidence in space or on Earth of spacecraft or phenomena not explained by our routine space operations in the shuttle or Space Station programs. My crewmates and I have not seen any evidence for UFOs or spacecraft of “alien” origin or behavior. The STS-80 videos are records of normal space shuttle operations and optical phenomena.

It is regrettable that so many spaceflight-minded young people have their enthusiasms exploited by misinterpretations of such shuttle videos. These inaccurate theories about what the videos show–some naive, some possibly deliberately misleading–waste a great deal of productive energy. Insisting that astronauts have seen alien vehicles is incorrect: a deliberate falsehood. This myth wastes years of healthy curiosity and diverts it to pseudo-scientific wild goose chases, and is a disservice to the fantastic and dedicated work done in orbit by Space Station and shuttle crews, and their support team on Earth. Those still arguing about non-existent UFOs seen by space shuttle crews are wasting their time. Worse, they are misleading young explorers who don’t deserve to miss out on the genuine thrills and wonder of the spaceflight experience, its importance for the advancement of our species, and our understanding of the home planet and our universe.

Tom Jones, PhD

Planetary Scientist

Astronaut on STS-59, -68, -80, and -98

Author of Ask the Astronaut, Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir, and Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System.

www.AstronautTomJones.com

Early spring in the Appalachians jumps out at the astronauts aboard Endeavour, STS-59, Space Radar Lab 1. At an altitude of about 120 nautical miles, the Endeavour crew used a Hasselblad camera body with a 40mm lens to capture this northward view.

Washington, DC is at the bottom right edge of the photo, with I-95 leading northeast to Baltimore on the shores of Chesapeake Bay. The crooked arm of the Patapsco River is visible at the city center. (The Orioles were playing in the nearly new Camden Yards baseball stadium there.)

Moving up the coast, at the head of the Chesapeake, the Susquehanna River flows in from the west (left) in a dark green valley that slices through the mountain ridges. Philadelphia is next in line, on the Delaware River, with the dark green of the Jersey pine barrens at upper right. Finally, Long Island and New York City are visible at top right.

The Finger Lakes in upstate New York are at upper left, along with the shore of Lake Ontario. The ribbon-like sweep of the Appalachians dominates the center of this photo; these are the eroded roots of a folded chain of mountains that were once as high as the Rockies. The easternmost ridge at center is the Blue Ridge, and at bottom right is the silvery squiggle of the south fork of the Shenandoah River, flowing north to the Potomac along the western face of the Blue Ridge.

New spring leaves have not yet emerged at the higher elevations of the Appalachians, leaving just the rust-brown hue of fallen leaves and bare branches along the ridges. One can see the barrier that the Appalachians presented to early European settlers, confining them largely to the eastern seaboard for the first 150 years of settlement in eastern North America.

I grew up in Baltimore, so I truly enjoy the detail in this photo. Read more about viewing Earth in “Seeing Space,” a chapter in my new book, “Ask the Astronaut.” Copies available at:

www.AstronautTomJones.com

We looked down from 118 nautical miles on Space Radar Lab 1 and were wowed by this ecological playground. The volcanic landscape, mottled by the dark streaks and flows of basaltic lavas erupted from these shield volcanoes, is always a striking sight. North is toward the upper right, Isla Isabella is the seahorse-shaped large island at center, flanked by Isla Fernandina on the left and Isla Santiago on the center right. At lower right is Isla Santa Cruz, with the small Isla Floreana at bottom center. We saw no volcanic activity, but the islands were a major target for radar mapping of the islands’ successive lava flows, using roughness measurements to gauge the relative age of previous eruptions. That sequence can tell us how active the islands have been before historical times, and give us a sense of when a future eruption might be expected.

NASA has noted that “the Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador, sit in the Pacific Ocean about 1000 km (620 miles) west of South America. As the three craters on the largest island (Isabela Island) suggest, the archipelago was created by volcanic eruptions, which took place millions of years ago.

The western Galapagos Islands have six active volcanoes similar to the volcanoes found in Hawaii. Since the time of Charles Darwin’s visit to the area in 1835, there have been over 60 recorded eruptions of these volcanoes.

Unlike most remote islands in the Pacific, the Galapagos have gone relatively untouched by humans over the past few millennia. As a result, many unique species have continued to thrive on the islands. Over 95 percent of the islands’ reptile species and nearly three quarters of its land bird species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Two of the more well known are the Galapagos giant tortoise and marine iguanas. The unhindered evolutionary development of the islands’ species inspired Charles Darwin to begin The Origin of Species eight years after his visit there. To preserve the unique wildlife on the islands, the Ecuadorian government made the entire archipelago a national park in 1959. Each year roughly 60,000 tourists visit these islands to experience what Darwin did over a century and a half ago.”

I’ve not made it to the Galapagos–yet. But this evolutionary case study is high on my list of future vacation spots.

Read more about the view from orbit in “Seeing Space,” a chapter in my new book, Ask the Astronaut.

Inverness, in northern Scotland, is known as “The Capital of the Highlands.” The city derives its name from the Scots’ Gaelic term “Inbhir Nis” which translates as “mouth of the Ness.” It officially became a city in 2001 after competing with other locations to be awarded the status of “city.”

In this image, Inverness is centrally located and is split by the River Ness at the deep indentation into the northeast Scottish coast. Loch Ness is the dagger-like, cloud-free lake pointing to the lower left of this photo.

In early April, snow still covered the Scottish highlands as my Space Radar Lab crew coasted over on Endeavour, STS-59. Still on my bucket list to visit!

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Early spring shows lingering snows on the mountains of far eastern Turkey and its border region with Armenia. Mt. Aragats, a dormant volcano in Armenia, is at top in this photo, at 13,419 feet. North is to the upper left. At far right center is the twin-volcano plateau of Mt. Ararat, which last erupted in 1840. The river angling from lower left to upper right is the border between Turkey and Armenia, the Aras, flowing east toward the Kura and the Caspian Sea. The frozen, volcanic lake in the mountains at lower center is Balik Gulu, or Fish Lake. The Armenian capital, Yerevan, is located just east of a line between Ararat and Aragats, between the river and the center/top/right of the photo (I can’t see it very well).

Ararat is 5,137 m (16,854 ft) tall, and is the traditional resting place of Noah’s Ark. This entire eastern region of Turkey and Armenia is full of volcanoes, rugged mountains, and tectonic faults that generate massive quakes. Our crew on Space Radar Lab 1 mapped such tectonic faults across the entire sweep of the continents. STS-59 flew from April 9 to April 20, 1994. These photos keep my memories of that mission crisp.

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