Sighting in Saint-Marsal, May 14, 2004

The witness, an amateur astronomer, watched a very bright point of light cross the sky slowly for a few minutes, moving from the southwest toward the northeast. About an hour and three quarters later, at 11:30 pm, the phenomenon passed again along a different path, still heading northeast. The witness could not explain what they had seen and remained puzzled by it. The gendarmerie gathered no other testimony. The case, originally recorded under a different place name, was first rated C by SEPRA.

A fresh review was carried out using newer software and the investigative experience gained over the years since. It showed that the duration, shape, size, colour and movement matched those of the International Space Station, which was indeed on the described path and at both times given by the witness. GEIPAN concluded that the witness's perception was not at fault, but their interpretation was: they wrongly believed satellites could not be visible at that moment. The case, of low strangeness, is classified A: observation of ISS passes.