MUFON case closed: 1968 bright light case may have been Apollo X

June 2, 12:42 AMUFO ExaminerRoger Marsh

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Apollo X.

A couple in Parsippany, New Jersey, saw a Bright Light moving across the sky in 1968, but New Jersey Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Field Investigator Kristen Ann Winslet believes they may have been watching Apollo X.

The case was reported to MUFON on December 30, 2008.

Cases of Bright Lights moving across the sky are reported very frequently to MUFON.

The original witness statement, unedited: "If I recall correctly, at approximately 9 - 10 pm in late spring of 1968, (it could have been 1969) I was looking up at the stars and it appeared as if a star like object was moving. We came home from an event and while my wife put our daughter to bed, I stayed on the front lawn star gazing. I saw a three star formation and thought it was either the big or little dipper. In a matter of a minute or two the star in the center began to move. I went into the house and told my wife; “You’ve got to see this”. We went outside and the star had moved from where I last saw it to a new position. Incredibly, in about 20 minutes it had moved in a half circle from a center position to a frontal position on the left (west). I have no idea what it was, but a star doesn’t move and at the distance, it couldn’t have been a craft of any kind. I can not fathom a guess as to how many millions of light years away it was, but nothing that I’m aware of could move that fast. I reported this several years ago to some agency, but was laughed at. I know it happened because my ex-wife saw it with me. I stayed up till dawn waiting to see if it would move any further, but it didn’t. I’m not crazy and if I knew who to report it to back then, I would have done so."

Investigator's Notes

There were two witnesses of a "star like object."  Estimated altitude was "outside the Earth's atmosphere."  Degrees in altitude: Zenith. Object moved in a semi circle against the backdrop of stars. The witness was contacted by email. 

Investigator's Case Analysis

Based on the witness(s) account of this event; two possible theories to this case were investigated:

1. IFO - Man Made: (Apollo X Space Craft)

Based upon the information provided by the witness it is quite plausible that the object sighted high overhead was the Apollo X space craft performing tests in preparation for the July 1969 Moon Landing Mission.

Apollo X’s mission was to perform final tests in preparation of the moon mission. The tests included the docking and un-docking of the LEM to the command module. As the time of the witnesses event being late spring, the only Apollo mission that would have fit this time frame, would have been from the Apollo X mission, (May 1969). Semi Circle seen as Apollo X ‘Orbited’ during Rendezvous, (See addendum for a depiction of this event).

2. UFO: (Unknown - Other)

The possibility that the witnesses may have seen an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) in the skies can not be substantiated. As no other reports of such has been reported in the area as is reported here, this theory can be discounted. As this was a very populated area, additional sightings would have been reported.

Investigator's Conclusions

As no other witness(s) to this specific event has been identified and no other possible explanation to this event can be made by this witness or by this investigator based upon the theories and information provided, I believe that the evidence afforded by the witness is inconclusive. However, the theory that the object(s) sighted by the witness was the Apollo X mission is quite plausible, but can not be substantiated due to the uncertainty of the date that the witness saw the event, but this is a very intriguing theory.

As a result of this analysis and evaluation of all the evidence provided, I believe that this case file # US-NJ-1968.00.00 baring the introduction of any further substantiating evidence can be considered closed as ‘Insufficient Data’ in the MUFON Case Management System. (This case while closed will remain ‘Unsolved’ until more evidence is made available to re-asses the case to determine a final case disposition.)

Additional statements by the witness collected during the Investigation.

Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon and an all-up test of the lunar module (LM) in lunar orbit. The LM came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers.

According to the 2001 Guinness World Records Apollo 10 set the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle at 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph). The speed record was set during the return from the Moon on May 26, 1969.

While not included in the official mission logo due to the use of their names only as callsigns, the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission.[2][3] Peanuts creator Charles Schulz also drew some special mission-related artwork for NASA.

Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

Thomas P. Stafford (3) - Commander
John W. Young (3) - Command Module Pilot
Eugene A. Cernan (2) - Lunar Module Pilot

Backup Crew

L. Gordon Cooper, Jr - Commander
Donn F. Eisele - Command Module Pilot
Edgar D. Mitchell - Lunar Module Pilot

This crew was next scheduled to fly on Apollo 13. However, Al Shepard was given the slot instead. Cooper was enraged, and resigned from NASA. Because of this, the entire Apollo 10 backup crew was bumped from the 13 flight. Later, Shepard's crew had to switch places with Jim Lovell's.[citation needed]

Support Crew

Charles M. Duke, Jr
Joseph H. Engle
James B. Irwin
Jack R. Lousma

Flight Directors

Glynn Lunney, Black team
Gerry Griffin, Gold team
Milton Windler, Maroon team
Pete Frank, Orange team

Mission Parameters

Mass: CSM 28,834 kg; LM 13,941 kg

Earth Orbit

Perigee: 184.5 km
Apogee: 190 km
Inclination: 32.5°
Period: 88.1 min

Lunar Orbit

Perilune: 111.1 km
Apolune: 316.7 km
Inclination: 1.2°
Period: 2.15 hours

LM - CSM Docking

Undocked: May 22, 1969 - 19:00:57 UTC
Redocked: May 23, 1969 - 03:11:02 UTC

LM closest approach to lunar surface May 22, 1969, 21:29:43 UTC

On May 22, 1969 at 20:35:02 UTC, a 27.4 second LM descent propulsion system burn inserted the LM into a descent orbit of 112.8 km by 15.7 km so that the resulting lowest point in the orbit occurred about 15° from lunar landing site 2 (the Apollo 11 landing site). The lowest measured point in the trajectory was 15.6 km above the lunar surface at 21:29:43 UTC.