Sighting in Le Mas-d'Agenais, April 4, 2008

A motorist who had stopped at a rest area at 10:28 p.m. noticed a white object in the starry sky whose movement caught their attention. The object followed an irregular path. The witness watched it for about 50 seconds, after which it gradually faded from view. The account also mentioned an impression that the object stopped near some airliners.

The investigation established that the International Space Station was in the sky at the exact time of the sighting. The witness's position was consistent with seeing it, and the witness themselves said the object looked very much like a satellite. GEIPAN concluded that the object was almost certainly the International Space Station. The impression of stopping near the airliners was explained by a natural physiological effect of the eye (autokinesis-type fixation effects, known as autostasis and micronystagmus). The case was classified A, meaning identified.