ALSACAT-2022-04-21-GAMBSHEIM-1
On April 21, 2002, a Space X Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in the USA, after having put 53 Starlink Internet access satellites into orbit, carried out a "de-orbiting" maneuver visible above France, reigniting its engine for a while.
The media of course collected on the Web, in particular on the social network Twitter, observation reports about the light and the white halo it created in the sky. The media often played on the "UFO" side of the sightings, while explaining it. There have been several sightings reported in Alsace, notably in Gambsheim in the Bas-Rhin, where it was filmed by Déborah Schwartz.
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Above: a frame from the 21 seconds video. The other frames are totally similar.
| Date: | April 21, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 10:00 p.m. |
| Duration: | 21 seconds or more. |
| First known report date: | April 22, 2022 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 1 day. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Gambsheim |
| Place: | Outside. |
| Latitude: | 48.691 |
| Longitude: | 7.884 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 2 km. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | Woman or girl. |
| Reporting channel: | The regional Press citing Web reports. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | ? |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| Entities: | No. |
| Photographs: | Yes. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL. |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Negative case, rocket. |
[Ref. dna1:] WEBSITE OF THE NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE":
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Weird
An unidentified flying object was seen Thursday around 10 p.m. in the sky of Alsace, by many Internet users. It was SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.
By The editorial staff, with N.B.-G. and C.Lie. - Apr 22, 2022, 10:13 am | updated on Apr 23, 2022 at 08:09 - Reading time: 3 min
- Seen 41418 times
Seen in Mulhouse / Screen capture - TikTok
Many Internet users report having spotted a strange light in the sky, on Thursday night around 10 p.m., in Alsace.
It has been observed in both departments, such as in Gambsheim and Mulhouse.
Seen in Gambsheim (Bas-Rhin), filmed by Déborah Schwartz
Seen in Mulhouse
This is the re-entry of the second stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, according to several observers.
The American company announced the launch of 53 Starlink satellites on Thursday, April 21.
The rocket, from the American firm of Elon Musk, was fired from the Cape Canaveral site in Florida.
A "de-orbiting" maneuver was carried out over France, we learned this Friday at midday from the authorities. The rocket engine was reignited for a few moments, spitting out several tons of gas, creating this curious white cloud.
In Marlenheim
Also in Marlenheim, a resident testifies to a "strange luminous phenomenon..." "They were small lights - at least three - similar to those of airliners but not flashing and enveloped by a kind of cloud, he says. The phenomenon was initially similar to the moon hidden behind a cloudy sky."
"The trajectory was curved, smooth and flowing"
"However, it was moving from the Marlenberg hill and took the direction of Kirchheim. The trajectory was curved, soft and fluid. It lasted about five minutes. There was a slight acceleration of these elements towards the end of the observation which ended up disappearing from my field of vision", further details this witness, after having admired "this curiosity" through his binoculars.
In Bendorf
Julie and Jérémy Zurbuch were walking on Thursday evening on the heights of the village of Bendorf in the Alsatian Jura when they saw an unusual "thing" in the sky which passed over their heads. "We are outside a lot, in nature. In summer, we often look at the stars in the sky, they are distant and very clear and we also see the satellites which move and which have the same size as the stars. It was different, the thing looked close like an airplane but was much bigger than an aircraft," says Julie.
"We saw this light coming out from behind the forest, it was huge"
The 20-year-old had never seen anything like it until now: "We saw this light coming out from behind the forest, it was huge and we watched it for a good minute until that it was too far away to see it again. It was strange, there was a foggy halo around the thing whose outlines could not be seen, there was nothing blinking and there was no noise either, it was disturbing".
The two walkers had time to take photos and film the unidentified flying object. To find out for sure, they also checked if the Flightradar24 app could provide them with an answer: "We can see the planes passing over, but there was nothing there at all"...
Julie and Jérémy Zurbuch were walking on the heights of the village of Bendorf in the Alsatian Jura on Thursday evening when they saw an unusual "thing" in the sky (our shot at 9:47 p.m.). Document submitted
The glow would have been seen throughout the North of France, in Switzerland or even in Belgium
The phenomenon was also observed in Franche-Comté, and relayed by the Atmo-Risk meteorological office.
[Ref. acu1:] WEBSITE "ACTU.FR":
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News
Great East
A UFO seen in the sky in Alsace? Several Internet users asked themselves the question after seeing a mysterious white cloud on the evening of Thursday, April 21, 2022.
In Alsace and as in other regions of France, people have seen a mysterious white cloud in the sky. (Twitter screenshot)
By Editorial Strasbourg
Posted 23 Apr 22 at 11:59
Around 10 p.m. on Thursday April 21, 2022, Internet users saw a strange cloud in the sky in Alsace.
A phenomenon also observed in other regions of France, such as Picardy or Auvergne. But what is it?
Unfortunately for some, the craft seen is not an extraterrestrial craft.
In this case, it is rather a question of the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket from the American company of Elon Musk, SpaceX.
The latter was launched that evening in Florida (United States) as part of the Starlink mission.
A "deorbiting" maneuver was then carried out over France to prevent the rocket stage from remaining in orbit around the Earth, explains Météo Franc-Comtoise.
This procedure, which consists of reigniting the rocket engine for a few moments, spews out several tons of gas. This caused this mysterious cloud in the sky.
Below: map of the observations locations in Alsace cited for this event:
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The regional press and news websites then use information from the web, from social networks like Twitter. How the witnesses interpreted what they reported is rarely known, the general mechanism is that it is the media would headline about a UFO or mention "extraterrestrial craft", with an obvious aim of sensationalization, and the same media would give the so-called "disappointing" explanation, already presented elsewhere on social networks.
We can speak here of a "negative case", i.e. a case for which the "ordinary" explanation was found very quickly, by the witnesses themselves or the media reporting the sightings, without the need for investigation by ufologists.
Negative case, rocket.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 28, 2022 | Creation, [dna1]. [acu1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 28, 2022 | First published. |
