File 153 · 15 September 1991
STS-48, orbital objects
Low Earth orbit, United States
Opened 9/4/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. High, dark sky. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
A camera on shuttle STS-48 recorded streaks and a flash that some viewers read as objects changing course.
What is on the record
NASA footage is public domain. NASA and later analysts described ice particles and thruster firings. The film is real. The anomalous-maneuver reading is not a NASA finding.
During STS-48, a camera looking off Discovery’s payload bay recorded several small objects. A flash occurs; one object then appears to change path. The sequence circulated as evidence of orbital craft evading a shot. NASA and later analysts identified the lights as ice and debris near the orbiter, the flash as a freeze-frame or thruster event, and the “turn” as a perspective effect as particles recede.
The tape is real. The physics argument is public. The wiki keeps it because so much later UAP talk still starts from this clip, and because an official explanation exists to read beside it.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Satellites were already up. The station was not. Starlink was not.
Always
Venus and the bright planets
A fixed brilliant point. Does not streak. Does not hover over a street then leave. Often the first misread light in a rural report.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same country · August 14, 2026, 2:00 PM
Large Rectangular Multi-Colored Object Above Tree Line
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho · United States
Unidentified
Married couple observed and filmed a very large (300-400 ft) rectangular object hovering above a tree line in daylight. It emitted multiple colors of blinking lights from different sides.
Same craft · Same country · 13 August 2026
Pale object high over Ocracoke Island
Ocracoke, North Carolina · United States
Unidentified
A fisher near the southern end of Ocracoke Island reported a solid off-white rectangular-conical object high in the eastern sky before sunset.
Same craft · Same country · September 2015
Pantex airspace, Amarillo
Pantex Plant, Amarillo, Texas · United States
Unidentified
A Department of Energy file released in 2026 describes an unidentified object in the airspace over the Pantex nuclear weapons plant.
Same craft · Same country · January 2015
Gimbal FLIR
Off the U.S. East Coast · United States
Unidentified
Navy fighter crews recorded a fleet of objects. The Gimbal video shows a dark shape against clouds, apparently rotating, with a trail. The Pentagon released it in 2017.
Same craft · Same country · November 17, 1986
Japan Airlines Flight 1628 Encounter
Eastern Alaska · United States
Unidentified
Captain Kenji Terauchi and crew of a JAL Boeing 747 cargo flight observed three unidentified objects, including two smaller craft and a massive 'mothership' the size of an aircraft carrier. Objects were tracked on onboard weather radar and by Anchorage ARTCC and military radar for nearly 50 minutes. FAA investigated and held a press conference.
Same craft · Same country · 29 December 1980
Cash–Landrum highway
Near Dayton, Texas · United States
Unidentified
Three people in a car met a diamond-shaped object above the road, surrounded by helicopters. All three became ill. They sued the U.S. government and lost.