An account in Loire-Atlantique, France

On June 25, 2015 at around 3:15 a.m., a witness observes for 10 to 15 seconds a luminous point moving in a straight line, identified as a satellite. Then he sees another luminous point, larger, white and orange in color, moving at high speed, without blinking and in silence. This one seems to stop to abruptly change trajectory and disappear. The satellite passage simulator "Calsky" record indicates that at that time, on that day, many satellites are visible on trajectories close to the N-S or S-N direction. The satellite COSMOS 2428, visible on an apparent trajectory from N NW to S between 3:00 and 3:12, seems to be the one the witness saw (without certainty, because other satellites could fit), but it is another luminous phenomenon that draws his attention, much brighter, on a South -> North trajectory, which disappeared after 10 to 15 seconds. The Calsky record, and also that of Heavens-above, indicate from Nantes at 3:25 the visibility of a flash from satellite Iridium 52, which orbits on a S->N trajectory. See information on Iridium satellite flares. The witness then describes a right-angle turn, a sudden acceleration before the disappearance: this type of description is frequent for satellites that enter the Earth's shadow, or whose brightness suddenly stops due to the change in orientation relative to the sun. The sudden drop in brightness is unconsciously interpreted as a moving away. GEIPAN classifies this case A: observation of the Iridium 52 satellite flare.