Official · Document · NASA
Astronauts Track a Red Light Near the Space Station
It lingered by the window, then vanished into darkness. The crew couldn’t identify it.
In brief
Astronauts spotted a bright red light near the space station. They thought it was a satellite, but couldn’t identify it and never saw it again.
Summary
A composite NASA Johnson Space Center document (JSC-08053, JSC-08478, JSC-08809) compiling excerpts from the technical crew debriefings of all three Skylab missions: Skylab 2 (June 30, 1973), Skylab 3 (October 4, 1973), and Skylab 4 (February 22, 1974). The Skylab 2 excerpt records crew discussion of recurring light flashes seen with eyes closed, possibly correlated with the South Atlantic Anomaly. The Skylab 3 excerpt details an unidentified bright reddish object/satellite tracked through the wardroom window for ~10 minutes about a week before splashdown, in an orbit very close to Skylab’s but never re-acquired. The Skylab 4 excerpt notes flashing lights observed in motion relative to the station, presumed (but not confirmed) to be Skylab debris or other satellites.
Incidents in the document
- 1973 (Skylab 2 mission, May–June 1973) · Skylab orbital workshop, low Earth orbit · Page 2
Crew reported recurring visual light flashes (spots, sunbursts, streaks) seen most often with eyes closed at night, two to three per minute at peak. Flashes were possibly correlated with passages through the South Atlantic Anomaly. Some appeared as 'entrance' and 'exit' streaks suggestive of cosmic-ray particles traversing the eyeball.
- Witnesses