One of the most fascinating UFO videos ever filmed by NASA was recorded during space shuttle Atlantis’ trip to the International Space Station in September of 2006.

During the 13-day mission, a number of mysterious objects were spotted by the Astronauts, and one in particular sighting caused Atlantis to delay their return to Earth.

On September 19, 11 days into the mission, when the crew was preparing for their return home, astronauts aboard the shuttle informed the Mission Control Center that, following the test of the reaction control system, an object was seen moving in a co-orbital path with the Orbiter. The astronauts spotted the object using an onboard TV camera, but unfortunately, the resolution of the images was not high enough to identify the object.

In a news report by Space.com from September 19 dubbed ‘Atlantis Landing Delayed After Mystery Object Spotted,’ we can see the importance not only NASA, but Astronauts gave to the object, and the confusion it created.

“The question is ‘What is it?'” NASA’s shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said at the time, adding that the object – which appeared small and dark against a blue Earth in the video – could be something as simple as ice, ceramic cloth gap-filler, or a piece of harmless shim stock plastic known to be dangling from Atlantis’ heat shield. “Is it something benign like that, which we have seen before, or is it something more critical that we should pay attention to?”

But was it only ice, ceramic cloth gap-filler, or a piece of harmless shim stock plastic known to be dangling from Atlantis’ heat shield? Or is it possible that the mysterious object may have been something far more mysterious?

NASA Spaceflight wrote about the mystery object the same day as the space.com article was released stating that:

“Shuttle Atlantis’ return home has been moved back a day, until Thursday morning, due to poor weather at the Kennedy Space Center, and continued analysis by NASA managers/Tiger Team to ascertain what an Unidentified Falling Object (UFO) may be after it was spotted near the orbiter.”

Speaking to NASA Spaceflight at the time, Wayne Hale said: “‘It appears to be tumbling, and it also appears to be rectangular in shape, but we have no scale to reference with that photography – so we still have a bit of a mystery there.”

But despite trying to understand what it was, no one could say for sure. What NASA did know at the time is that nothing was missing from the orbited:

“We have already cleared many parts of the orbiter (through that data),” confirmed Hale. “And we’ve spotted nothing missing.”

But the one object wasn’t alone. Astronauts quickly spotted more mysterious objects near the shuttle.

At the time, Atlantis commander Brent Jett described the objects as two rings, adding that: “It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen outside the shuttle.”

It is noteworthy to mention that during NASA Space Shuttle program, countless mysterious objects have been spotted not only near NASA’s Space Shuttles but near the International Space Station as well.

Here’s the video:

Source:

Video Footage Credit: NASA

NASA Spaceflight

Space.com