He was not exaggerating.  This footage was not only  
extremely sharp and clear, but it was evident that the  
"HardCopy" footage had been an apertured-down version  
restricting the field of view.  This time It was evident  
that the object did not suddenly appear, rather it had  
appeared when its course brought it from behind the Earth's  
rim, revealing itself against the dark Earth below.  There  
were other anomalous objects in the frame.  Some were moving  
in a similar direction but slower, while others appeared to  
be slowly converging on the first object.  Ron explained  
that the real curiosity was the NASA explanation.  During  
the course of all shuttle flights there is a long schedule  
of events.  Everything from course corrections, rotating the  
shuttle due to the sun's heat and waste water ejection are  
performed according to schedule.  NASA had stated that the  
brief flare was the firing of an attitude adjustment jet,  
required just prior to the waste water ejection procedure.  
Further, they explained that the object seen to make a right  
hand turn was merely a small ice crystal reacting to the  
thruster fire.  The problem with this is that, based on  
actual NASA audio logs of the mission, an attitude  
adjustment and subsequent waste water ejection procedure  
occurred just after Event 2!  The NASA explanation was  
patently wrong.  
  
In the days that followed, Ron began to relate the details  
of the on-going investigation that these anomalous events  
had created.  The number of players was enormous and as I  
was inundated by the names, dates, and activities, I finally  
admitted to Ron that he must allow me to bring another  
person in on this.  I requested that Vince Johnson be  
included.  He agreed.  After the initial couple of meetings  
I had with Mr. Madeley, The three of us finally gathered at  
my home to view all the footage and to receive some further  
information for the inevitable writing of this article.  We  
first viewed Event 2, bringing Vince up to date.  
  
As amazing as this footage was, we were not prepared for the  
next bit of tape he showed us.  As I loaded another tape he  
gave me into the machine, Ron explained that there were a  
total of six events recorded during the STS-48 mission.  He  
hit the play button and showed us an amazing Event #3.  This  
piece of footage is hard to describe due to the overwhelming  
activity present during the several seconds.  The view was  
of the Earth in daylight.  Clouds obscured much of the  
unidentified land mass below.  As we watched, a small object  
streaked across the bottom of the frame right to left.  
Then, another, from left to right.  A larger, bright object  
entered from upper left frame and traveled to the lower  
right.  It appeared elongated, then slowed and became  
rounder, then exited the picture.  Still another object,  
even brighter, entered from the lower left corner and  
traveled diagonally toward the upper right hand corner.  
Approximately midway, a smaller object streaked from the  
right and appeared to either intersect or pass above or  
below the brighter object.  The bright object continued out  
of frame.  Immediately following this, all hell seemed to  
break loose as multiple objects of varying brightness  
streaked through the field of ections; left to right, right  
to left, upper to lower; incredible activity everywhere!  If  
all the anomalies had been traveling in the same direction a  
case could have been made that we were witnessing  
meteorites, but this was no meteor shower.  
  
The last anomalous event within this Event #3 was perhaps  
the strangest, and of the shortest duration.  In the upper  
left hand corner of the frame a very unusual object appeared  
for a brief moment before the view was switched to another  
shuttle camera.  This object looked all the world like a  
domed object moving left to right!  When viewed several  
times in a row, this impression was strengthened.  This  
object could not be explained easily.  Following this, we  
were shown Events #6, #4 and #1.  These events, although  
significant, were minor compared to #2 and #3.  
  
On November 11, 1991, Vincent DiPietro, an employee of GSFC  
(Goddard Space Flight Center), issued a report to the Fund  
for UFO Research detailing his own investigation into the  
first four events of STS-48.  It is interesting to note that  
Mr. DiPietro's report, written long before the Larry King  
show, shows a distinct pro-UFO stance contrasting greatly  
with his opinion offered to Larry King.  During his  
inquiries he spoke to several scientists, astronauts and  
other ranking individuals.  He asked each to describe the  
four events.  Those claiming that the objects were ice were:  
Dr. Paul Lowman, Lunar Geologist Scientist at GSFC, Dr.  
Terry Dawson, Space Science and Technology Committee, Dr.  
Ken Rightler, STS-48 Astronaut, and Dr. Mark Brown, STS-48  
Astronaut.  Dr. Ron Parise, Astronaut at GSFC, claimed that  
the objects were meteors (even though he refused to view the  
tape).  Don Haxton, Astronomer for the Space Telescope,  
claimed that the objects were not meteors.  At the time of  
Mr. DiPietro's report, the NASA Public Affairs  
Administrators at GSFC had not responded to his inquiries,  
nor had Dr. Bogges, Chief Scientist for the Space Telescope  
project at GSFC.  Among the various explanations given to  
explain the anomalous events were:  the rockets on the side  
of STS-48 could have produced a blast of gas which could  
have deflected the objects, causing the unusual right-hand  
turn, and that STS-48 was just coming into the daylight and  
the objects (that seemed to appear out of thin air) could  
have been there all along, but might have been illuminated  
by sunlight when Event #2 started.  Based on his  
investigation, Vincent DiPietro could come to no firm  
conclusions concerning the strange events of STS-48.  
  
All of this evidence suggests some very odd activity during  
this shuttle mission.  Mr. Madeley's own investigation has  
lasted more than five months.  Several experts, in a variety  
of fields, have agreed to make their opinions available to  
him in exchange for being allowed to remain anonymous.  The  
following article provides a more detailed look at Events 1,  
2, 3, 4 and 6.  
  
Mr. Madeley graciously provided much of the details for  
Event 2.  The details of the other events are either written  
from memory (we weren't allowed our own copy of the footage)  
or are taken from Mr. DiPietro's own investigation.  We will  
be bringing you further information on this emerging story  
as it becomes available.  
During his investigation, Ron was showing the Event 3  
footage over and over to an engineer working at the NASA  
Johnson Space Center.  Ron asked what he thought it all was.  
The engineer replied, "I keep watching different things  
everytime you play it.  Like I told you before; I  
thought I was watching a Star Wars movie or something from  
Hollywood!"  And, in the words of one scientist working at  
the Sandia National Laboratories, "You have something quite  
important there."  
  
Copyright 1992 by Houston UFO Network / David Mayo