The three photos above represent the ISS Expedition Crew 2, in residence aboard ISS when this event took place.

The picture at left was made from video tape shot on Sunday, 17 June 2001, Father's Day in the US.  It is one of only a few ISSy passes to date with anything observed or captured, that raises serious questions.  The time was 21:45 PDT (03:45 18 June GMT). 

Being just four days before the Northern Summer Solstice, skies were still very bright.  The sun was well below the horizon.

During the pass, I saw something reddish-orange "flash" suddenly near ISSy for just a second.  Then it was gone.  It took me more than 18 months to isolate the single frame from the original video, as seen above.

There were no space craft known to me to be in the vicinity of ISSy at that time, nor were any known satellites nearby.  One may ask if this could be debris, tumbling and flashing in the sunlight.  Perhaps, but it would have to be very sizeable to be seen from 300nm, which is the approximate distance between ISSy and this observer.

Could the object have been a plane, or helicopter between ISSy and the ground?  This seems unlikely, since I saw no sign of the red-orange object at any other time, or part of the sky before or after the incident.

Could it have been a bird catching the last rays of the Sun with it's flapping wings?  Well, if it was a bird, it was flying at extreme altitude for any species I know about.  The Sun had been set for a while, so anything catching rays would have to be at several tens of thousands of feet/meters.  At that distance, the bird would have to be very large.  VERY large indeed.  Perhaps even Rodan™ sized...er, just kidding.

This little animation is composed of frames taken by my own home camcorder on 17 June 2001. It was shot in early twilight as ISSy passed over my home in Sacramento.

I don't know what this object was.  But I know what it's not.  Therefore, I conclude that this is an unknown.

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At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.

© 2006 Jeff Challender