RSS
Home
UFO reports spawned by Kepler launch revealed as normal rocket events
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
The recent night launch of NASA's Kepler planet-seeking spacecraft created a lot of buzz about UFOs.
A woman in Cape Canaveral reported blinking lights. Now Pittsburg UFO Examiner Richard Sanner has come across other stories from people who believed they'd seen a UFO.
In Palm Beach, a glowing ball with a fire trail gained attention. Over at Port St. Lucie, another big red something trailing fire also was reported as a UFO.
There's only one problem with the raft of UFO reports that often come with a launch--sorting out the sightings of routine events from any potential UFO sighting. Although UFO fans have long reported what they believe to be extraterrestial interest in rocket launches, there are many normal types of lights, fire trails, and other visible effects of a rocket launch, especially at night.
Before Kepler's launch, the flight path of the rocket was widely broadcast. Its trajectory made quite a show for Florida folks, especially those on the east coast. The Delta II and all its staging events were visible for miles.
The flight path, as NASA had predicted, looked like the rocket was flying along the Florida coast. Here's the complete video coverage of the March 6 Kepler launch from my friends at Spacevidcast.
Watch the video, with my notes. When a launch takes place, many things can affect how you see the vehicle itself. Among them are weather conditions, how far away you are, your angle for viewing, and how the spacecraft looks at various altitudes as it travel.
In addition, there are "special effects" caused by routine in-flight events. In this video, the first is the separation of the solid rocket boosters. at about 1:30 (listen for the word "burnout"). Later, the shut-down of the solid motors and their ejection at about 2:35 created little glowing globes sailing off on their own flight paths.
Think you've seen a UFO on a launch day? Check here, or with local spaceports, before submitting a UFO report. In addition to Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, there are also testing ranges around the country used by government, commercial, and hobby launches.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
