The International Space Station (ISS) has been occupied continuously since 1 November 2000, with the arrival of the Expedition 1 Crew. Much had changed by the time the Expedition 9 Crew came aboard. The Station had nearly doubled in size, with a large increase in capability.

Expedition 9 initiated with the launch of Soyuz TMA-4 atop a Starsem booster from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 18 April 2004 at 10:19 PM CDT (03:19 19 April GMT). Aboard were Station and Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, and Flight Engineer Mike Fincke. In the third seat was ESA Astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands, on the Delta Mission. They spent the next two days chasing ISSy for rendezvous and docking, which took place at 12:01 AM (05:01 GMT) on 21 April. The three men were warmly greeted by the outgoing crew of Expedition 8. These were Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander "Sasha" Kaleri. A week of joint operations ensued, with the station being finally handed over to the Expedition 9 crew. Andre Kuipers, and the Expedition 8 crew entered their Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle to return to Earth on 29 April 2004.

During their six month stay aboard, the Expedition 9 crew carried out Four EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) and an extensive but flexible program of science. These included some 21 different experiments in five categories. These were Bioastronautics, the Physical Sciences, Space Product Development, Space Flight, and Space Biology. More can be learned about the Expedition 9 Science program Here, and Here.

With the arrival of the Expedition 10 Crew, and Cosmonaut Yuri Shargin of the Russian Space Forces, on 15 October 2004, the final week of Expedition 9 was at hand. As is usual practice, the two crews worked together for a week to familiarize the new men with their home in orbit. On 23 October at 4:08 PM CDT (21:08 GMT), the Soyuz TMA-4 undocked from ISSy for the return home. Cosmonaut Shargin was aboard with the Expedition 9 crew for the ride. A safe landing was achieved near Arkalyk Kazakhstan on 23 October at 7:36 PM CDT (00:36 24 October GMT). Expedition 9 was a productive and successful mission to ISS, and all ended very well. Total flight duration: 187 days 21 hours 17 minutes.

Just about the time of this incident, Soyuz was burning her retro-rockets to slow for re-entry and landing in Kazakhstan, outside the town of Arkalyk. Amazingly, the capsule need only reduce speed by about 258 miles per hour, from 17,500 mph, to initiate this re-entry sequence.

During the retro-rocket burn, one of ISSy's exterior cameras was looking at orbital sunset. Soyuz was not visible from the camera at this point. Just after sunset, and as darkness closed in, there was a flurry of the Martyn Stubbs "Second Phenomenon". The entire sequence was broadcast "live" on NASA Select TV.

This phenomenon seems to be associated with the South Atlantic Anomaly. This is a portion of the Earth's magnetic field which does not behave as the rest of the global field. This same phenomenon was observed one week earlier during the approach of Soyuz TMA-5 for docking with ISSy. There is a page devoted to this other event HERE.

I don't know what this phenomenon is specifically, but it does make for a fantastic light show in ISSy's color cameras at night. The wonderful explosions of red, green, and blue are very pretty. Add to this the flashing of "comet" and other shapes in white. In the past, I've seen this night-time phenomenon from black & white low light cameras aboard the Shuttles. But this time we have it in color, and it's quite amazing indeed!

This phenomenon, in my opinion, is natural. What IS most strange about it, is that NASA seems to be determined to cover it up, just like the UFO phenomenon. Why? Go ask NASA. That is, IF they'll respond to your question. When the subject is uncomfortable for them, they invariably ignore the query, and pretend it never came in...

So, a nice visual presentation has been prepared for you. How about we have a look at it now, OK?

The circled dot in the lower left quadrant is a bad pixel in the digital color camera aboard ISSy. The light blue arc on the left of the screen is the edge of Earth in twilight. The Sun had set several moments before.

I can't explain the vertical bars in the scene. These are caused, for whatever reason, by NASA. They were in the original broadcast coverage of the event.

Perhaps some day we'll have the truth about this strange visual phenomenon. In the mean time, you can just enjoy the beautiful light show provided by the mysteries of outer space!

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At all times during this broadcast, the camera was under the control of the CATO in Houston Mission Control.

(INCO - INstrument & Communication Officer - The man in Houston Mission Control Center who is responsible for operating the Shuttle payload bay, and robotic arm, cameras. He also remotely operates the helmet cameras in space suits. In the case of ISS, this officer is referred to as the CATO - Communications And Tracking Officer. In both cases, these persons CONTROL everything which is PERMITTED to go out on broadcast to the public. It is a commonly believed falacy that the cameras are operated by Astronauts & Cosmonauts on the Shuttles, and Space Station. Very little camera work is done by the crews. They're way too busy for that.)

At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.

© 2006 Jeff Challender