Sighting in Saint-Martin-l'Ars, March 17, 2009
Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Sighting on March 17, 2009 in Saint-Martin-l'Ars (Vienne, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was the International Space Station (ISS) (class A).
What happened
At around 8:10 p.m., a witness saw two white luminous discs moving toward the east/north-east. The discs appeared to be joined by some kind of mass. The source gives no information on how long the sighting lasted, on the weather, or on what the witness was doing.
The investigation established that at that date and time, the American space shuttle was approaching the International Space Station (ISS). The account matches what could be seen of this pairing of shuttle and station. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as A: the witness had seen the shuttle approaching 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
- March 17, 2009
- Location
- Saint-Martin-l'Ars · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Space station (ISS)
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2009-03-02235
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.