The shape called the Black Knight

How a photograph acquired a legend

Spaceflight researcher James Oberg assembled a study of the STS-88 imagery and its association with the Black Knight story. His analysis argues that the photographed object was spacewalk debris, commonly identified as a thermal cover, rather than an ancient satellite.

Let the sequence do some work

A flexible object can look very different as it changes orientation. View the surrounding frames and follow edges, folds and illuminated surfaces. Oberg’s explanation connects the photographs with mission activity; a lone dramatic crop removes that context.

A real view from orbit

The Earth below and the changing silhouette are worth inspecting in their own right. These are NASA photographs, not an artist’s reconstruction. Their survival allows a popular space mystery to be explored using the actual images that helped create it.

Sources & further reading

• STS-88 “whatsit” and the Black Knight legend — James Oberg
• The widely circulated silhouette — image record — NASA
• Frame STS088-724-65 — image record — NASA
• Frame STS088-724-70 — image record — NASA
• STS088-724-67 — NASA photograph and reuse record — NASA / Wikimedia Commons
• STS088-724-68 — NASA photograph and reuse record — NASA / Wikimedia Commons
• STS088-724-69 — NASA photograph and reuse record — NASA / Wikimedia Commons
• STS088-724-66 — original mission catalogue record — NASA / Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit