Gironde, France · 2015-12-12 · from the GEIPAN archive
Moving in formation in Gironde, France
On December 12, 2015 at 6:10 PM, two residents of VENDAYS-MONTALIVET (33) went outside to observe an Iridium satellite flash. At 6:14 PM, they saw a bright point in motion go out and then relight two or three times in a row. The observation of the UAP lasted thirty seconds. Only one testimony was collected.
The description of the UAP as a bright point similar to a star in motion and going out and relighting several times is characteristic of observing an artificial satellite rotating very rapidly on itself. The reconstruction on Calsky of satellite passes shows that one of them can match both the time and the trajectory: SL-23 R/B, numbered according to international designations 41107 and 2015-074-C. It is also worth noting that its trajectory from the southwest to the east peaked at about forty angular degrees, which is consistent with the witness's estimate of the UAP's height (see the investigation report).
Of average strangeness, but of sufficient consistency, this case turns out to be a fairly rare misidentification with a pass of a Zenit rocket stage shortly after its launch. The UAP's trajectory as well as its description match perfectly with that of the object SL-23 R/B, very clearly visible at the time of the observation. Moreover, a visual observation of this object confirmed its variable and spectacular nature. This case is classified A, misidentification with a satellite, involving the rocket stage SL-23 R/B numbered 2015-074-C.
On July 6, 2015 at 10:45 PM, two people observed the passage of multiple bright points in the sky (between 15 and 20). These points, pink-orange in color, were in a line and moved silently i…
On April 18, 2015 at around 11:30 PM, a motorist was alerted by his son in the back of the vehicle to the presence of a red light in the sky. Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw six or se…
On August 17, 2015 at 7:04 AM, a witness observed for one minute a very bright white object, resembling an airship, moving at constant speed at high altitude. It gradually disappeared headin…
On May 17, 2015 at around 11:16 PM, a witness observing the night sky is intrigued by the appearance of a succession of bright points (the witness counted up to 8) which gradually form a lar…
On July 19, 2015, around midnight, two people observe through binoculars a line of several orange lights in the sky. The objects flicker, and the whole thing suggests a formation flight movi…
On May 13, 2015 at 8:40 a.m., a motorist on the Paris ring road is intrigued by the presence in the sky of an oblong, luminous and white object. Through the windshield he takes three photogr…
both described moving in formation
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This is an official case file of GEIPAN, the French space agency's unidentified aerospace phenomena office, machine translated from French. The original text and the full investigation file are at geipan.fr. We reproduce it with thanks and remove anything on request.
Anomaly