Sighting in Papeete, July 24, 2015
France
Sighting on July 24, 2015 in Papeete (France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was the atmospheric re-entry of a space object (rocket stage, debris) (class A).
What happened
A witness saw a long, glowing trail in the sky at about 8 p.m. Tahiti time, with pieces breaking away from it. It moved from east to west. The witness watched it continuously for 30 to 40 seconds, until it vanished behind the clouds. Only one account was collected.
The GEIPAN investigation relied on three points: the time at which a piece of space debris fell back to Earth matched the time of the sighting, corresponding records existed on the SATOBS website, and the physical and dynamic characteristics of the phenomenon were similar in every respect to those of falling space debris. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as A. The witness had seen the disintegration, on re-entry into the atmosphere, of a Soyuz rocket stage catalogued as "15035B/40745". The stage had been used the previous day to resupply the ISS.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- July 24, 2015
- Location
- Papeete · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Re-entries
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2015-07-09256
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.