Sighting in Paris, June 20, 2012
Île-de-France, France
Sighting on June 20, 2012, exact location not given (département: Paris, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was the International Space Station (ISS) (class A).
What happened
At around 10:50 p.m., a witness noticed a point of light crossing the sky without a sound. Intrigued, they filmed what they saw.
The GEIPAN first considered an aircraft seen head-on while on approach to land at Roissy, then a Thai lantern, which it ruled out because the wind was blowing the opposite way. It finally settled on the International Space Station. The sky was clear, and the Calsky data showed a pass of the ISS that was very easy to see from Paris. The station rose at 10:46 p.m. in exactly the direction the witness described, and reached its highest point at 10:51 p.m., the time the witness gave.
The case was classified A: the sighting was positively identified as a pass of 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
- June 20, 2012
- Location
- Paris · region only
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Space station (ISS)
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2012-06-08264
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.