Mystery object delays shuttle landing

Spanky · Post by **Spanky** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:05 pm

NASA postponed the return of space shuttle Atlantis for at least a day after a small, mysterious object apparently fell off the ship in orbit Tuesday and raised fears that the spacecraft might not be able to make the journey home.

"The question is: What is it? Is it something benign? ... Or is it something more critical we should pay attention to?" said Wayne Hale, space shuttle program manager.

Speculation in the aviation industy has the shuttle being tracked by a new US aircarft....the F/A-37 "Razor".

Sandrat · Post by **Sandrat** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:11 pm

Imagery from orbiting KeyHole and QuickBird satellite systems confirm nothing, other than that the pilot appears to be wearing sunglasses and bicycling gloves.