An account in Vosges, France

GEIPAN continues to publish all of its archives on its public website www.geipan.fr. Among its publications are old cases classified at the time (A, B, C, or D) that are now being re-examined, with the sole aim of being more relevant in the conclusions. Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change in classification. This observation case, previously classified D and named MIRECOURT (88) 22.11.1989, is part of a set of cases recently re-examined. On November 22, 1989, between 2:00 and 2:15 in the morning, a woman (W1) observes through her window the rapid passage, on a slightly descending trajectory, of a red and strongly lit phenomenon. The witness wakes her husband (W2), who also sees the phenomenon. W1 describes a shape resembling two superimposed cylinders separated by a black band, the lower cylinder being longer (see the drawing in the official report). W1 describes bursts of sparks and flames around the object, as well as a tail of sparks in a fog, then the phenomenon is lost from sight by W1, hidden by 3 large fir trees near the house. No noise is heard during the short observation. W1 contacts the gendarmerie and the press. With the experience acquired by GEIPAN on this type of observation, its description by the witnesses leaves no doubt today. It is an atmospheric re-entry phenomenon (see the investigation report). Only the exact nature of this re-entry remained to be examined further. There are no other witnesses (which is understandable at 2 in the morning), which does not allow determining the real duration of the phenomenon. According to the description of the UAP, the hypothesis of an artificial re-entry is favored, all the more so because the trajectory and the time of passage of the Soviet satellite Cosmos 2047 are very consistent with those of the UAP. Although the time of this re-entry is referenced to November 21, 1989, it is known that this is done with a margin of error of a few hours, which makes a re-entry on November 22, 1989 at 1:00 (UT) entirely possible. The duration of the phenomenon (20 seconds) is a priori too short for an artificial re-entry of a large artificial object, and would argue more for the hypothesis of the observation of a natural re-entry (bolide), but on the other hand a much longer duration clearly argues in favor of an artificial re-entry. It is obvious that the witnesses only observed part of the real duration of the phenomenon: the UAP was masked by trees at the end of the observation, and the witnesses only discovered the UAP (at their window) from the bed of their room. The case is classified A, quasi-certain misidentification with the atmospheric re-entry of the satellite Cosmos 2047.