STS-120 - PLAYBACK OF CREW HANDHELD VIDEO OF EXTERNAL TANK

[johnmoodymusic]

I guess the question is, is this a controlled object or random piece of matter, the object appears to be falling without control, If you where an advanced alien race and wanted to observe wouldnt you just fly some nano tech object in the size of an atom and observe, its a big show just to observe an empty piece of tin falling to the ground, (im not eduacated, spelling is just a sub class under a chosen language of perception to speak that I pay no attention to lol)

[bjkjf76]

When the tank is first released in space, the tank and ice fall at the same speed because there's no air resistance. The ice drifts eventually drifts away from the tank because the ice has considerably less mass than the tank and slows down more from air resistance as it enters the atmosphere.

But if you see that and your most likely explanation is that it's a craft piloted by a little green man who wants to observe the tank, how do you expect anyone to ever take your judgment seriously?

[iamzafkiel]

Zankoku na Tenshi no teeze...

[ydshashidhar]

Most of the cameras mounted on external tank go off right after separation from the shuttle. Can anyone redirect me to the vids with cameras still on in an external tank showing the re-entry?

[maintoc]

In addition to the obvious object seen at approx. 2:26 to 2:40 in this video, did anyone notice the small white object to the lower left of the tank at about 0:25 and something that seems to pass between the camera and the tank at approx. 1:06 ?

[caiuser2]

At 2.25 for a second there is a moving white irregular object below and to the right ??

[daislor8675]

when the camera dude focuses on the white thingy there are two other objects also if you pause it at 2:38 you can see a small circular object on the top right. and also a long dark think thingy poking out of the bottom right corner. very interesting!

[darcon1977]

you obviously went to "collage", i can tell by your exceptional spelling

[EZSEEK]

obviously you got me, wow how I am unable to live now.. Did you have to spell check everything you wrote a few times too? Least mine had a point like the top of your head... Go figure.. Some people live in pain and are up late smart ass.. Next time just simply say pass..

[darcon1977]

That's some angry reply for a collage grad huh?

[mach25man]

You guys are thinking too hard. There are no such things as fuel transfer lines. The tank is directly mounted to the orbiter. The white snow flake is nothing more than ice.

[ikdzero2]

Fake as fucking hell. Thank you for wasting my time.

[saud779]

check also 2:37 - 2:40, 2 other objects , 1 round, looks abit far and the other not fully shown

[SUPERBURRITO]

It's Hillary Clinton's bra

[usergently]

What is that at 2:29 ???

[joachim2464]

If youre talking about hte white object in the background it was the fuel transfer lines to the space shuttles engines

[ShopliftersUnite]

Interesting, but wouldn't that be a very unlikely shape for any craft? and then the spinning... I would say debris or frozen alien piss.

I agree there are a lot more things to be seen in this video however

[RoadRunnerLaser]

LOL @ "Frozen alien piss"

[brolyss4]

Muajajaja, this is the smartest and funniest comment,

[shiv68]

This is interesting!

[astrorider]

lol, half way through he just started to film the snowflake-like thing.

[GroovyUno]

Yeah, second that. WTF were those orbs moving in the same direction as the tank. And that crystal/flying vine thingy, what TF was that?

NASA knows it, but wont admit it.

[csj1969]

LOOKS LIKE A GREAT BIG ____ !!!!!

[nilbud]

Zeus, how the hell are you, it's been eons. Welcome back and could you please leave the flying machines alone.

Crystalline entity anyone

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Yeah... That's exactly what I was thinking too... Hehehhehe !!!

[slapjack77]

AT the 2:38 mark..Just after NASA P.R. says, "Discovery..", you see two more objects off to the bottom right... ... They are collecting external fuel tanks, to repair their ships... The UFO's are hiding BEHIND the moon..

[RoadRunnerLaser]

There seem to be quite a few objects in that footage but I put them down to various bits of debris, but that 'crystal entity' thing is one weird looking bit of debris !!! I'd love to know what it is.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I'm not screaming 'UFO! UFO!' or anything, but WTF was that at 2:25 to about 2:30 ??

The camera operator noticed it too.

[joachim2464]

That was the fuel transfer lines that transfers fuel from the tank to the shuttles engines. It is separated at the sam time as the external tank.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

That occurred to me, but I couldn't explain why they were so far ahead in the orbit and travelling so much slower than both the orbiter and the ET. Thanks for the response, joachim. Your explanation is far more likely than an 'extra-terrestrial craft' however..

[ThunderHead72]

That is ice from the shuttle's main engines that breaks free when they shut down on orbit, I've only seen photos of it until now, too cool!! Hopefully that helps solve the mystery for you. The reason it seems to float along with the shuttle is because there is very little to no air resistance at that altitude, so it just sort of follows along until the second OMS burn.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I think we may be referring to different things, Thunderhead. I'm aware of orbital mechanics and there's a 'thread-like' object which is travelling SLOWER, yet ahead in trajectory. As this is, as you correctly pointed out, pre-OMS2, the threadlike object, suspected to be fuel-lines by joachim, should be travelling at the same velocity as the ET and approximately the same velocity as the orbiter. It's the fact that it ISN'T following along which puzzles me.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I thank you for taking the time to present an explanation for my query and I want to make it clear that I'm not a UFO nut. Joachim's explanation is, by my reckoning, the most plausible, but it offers no explanation as to the considerable difference in position and velocity to the other orbital and sub-orbital components.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

My own attempts at an explanation would be that the fuel line is thrown forward and also 'earthward', but more-so than the ET. Thus, the fuel-line is subject to drag a little earlier, this is why the ET catches up. But... That's just me guessing and given the apparent relative distance between ET and "fuel line", it seems unlikely.

[ThunderHead72]

I don't think you're a UFO nut, just puzzled about what you saw (I've encountered enough Mr. Kazoo boneheads on this thing and in person, you don't fit the profile!!). I'll look again in a bit to see if I can figure out which one you mean, because now I'm curious!!

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Well, to help you pinpoint it, just after the camera operator points the camera back outside the window and re-aquires his target, the 'fuel-line/crystaline entity/snowflake' thing is visible ahead of the ET. The ET then catches it up and the camera tracks it for a moment or two before re-aquiring the ET.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I think I've seen plenty of ice floating about in STS footage and also plenty of boneheads trying to claim "UFO in NASA video" when all they're seeing is chunks of ice. This particular object really caught my attention, likewise the camera operator, apparently.