Witness illustration. (Credit: MUFON) by Roger Marsh
A Florida witness at Titusville reported watching just a “glimpse” of an object speeding by while waiting for the launch of an Atlas V rocket, according to testimony in Case 81674 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness and her husband were in the viewing bleacher for the launch which was to carry a missile detecting satellite at 8:15 p.m. on January 19, 2017, when the incident occurred.
“We were in a launch delay,” the witness stated. “I was standing in the bleachers and others were sitting. I was staring at the sky as I had heard that UFOs sometimes are around launches. I was looking towards the east and suddenly I saw an extremely bright, yellow/green light and it was wide, and it was close. It was horizontal to the ground, and it streaked by us. I yelled, ‘Look’ and people in the stands caught a glimpse.”
The witness believes there were other witnesses.
“It was so fast that many missed it, but some didn't. The woman behind me who was sitting down and just caught a glimpse said it was a meteor. I said, no, there was something in it. Just before the yellow/green steak of light vanished, for a fleeting bit of a second, I saw part of something metallic. It had a seam, and a shape that was rounded. But the yellow/green light obscured all but a small part of the object. I know what I saw and there was definitely something in that light. The launch was scrubbed, by the way, due to a wayward aircraft in the flight path of the rocket, so we all got on the buses and left. But I was still filled with excitement as I believe that was a UFO. I checked the web and cannot find any record of a meteor on that night.”
A Florida witness at Titusville reported watching just a “glimpse” of an object speeding by while waiting for the launch of an Atlas V rocket, according to testimony in Case 81674 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness and her husband were in the viewing bleacher for the launch which was to carry a missile detecting satellite at 8:15 p.m. on January 19, 2017, when the incident occurred.
“We were in a launch delay,” the witness stated. “I was standing in the bleachers and others were sitting. I was staring at the sky as I had heard that UFOs sometimes are around launches. I was looking towards the east and suddenly I saw an extremely bright, yellow/green light and it was wide, and it was close. It was horizontal to the ground, and it streaked by us. I yelled, ‘Look’ and people in the stands caught a glimpse.”
The witness believes there were other witnesses.
“It was so fast that many missed it, but some didn't. The woman behind me who was sitting down and just caught a glimpse said it was a meteor. I said, no, there was something in it. Just before the yellow/green steak of light vanished, for a fleeting bit of a second, I saw part of something metallic. It had a seam, and a shape that was rounded. But the yellow/green light obscured all but a small part of the object. I know what I saw and there was definitely something in that light. The launch was scrubbed, by the way, due to a wayward aircraft in the flight path of the rocket, so we all got on the buses and left. But I was still filled with excitement as I believe that was a UFO. I checked the web and cannot find any record of a meteor on that night.”
Florida MUFON Field Investigator Scott Christopher Schaller investigated this case and closed it as an Unknown.
“There is nothing to suggest the witness made any attempts to mislead or falsify any evidence or testimony,” Schaller wrote in his report. “It seems the witness is simply reporting what she saw. I have checked with the American Meteor Society database, but there was no reported activity on this date. But that doesn't mean that a fireball wasn't seen in the area. It just means no one reported it. It could be that the witness may have seen a very fast chase jet come by, but military usually doesn't show up on FlightRadar24. Based on the fact that I could not find another explanation, I closed this case with a Disposition of Unknown - Other.”
Please remember that most UFO sightings are resolved as something natural or man-made. The above quotes were edited for clarity.
“There is nothing to suggest the witness made any attempts to mislead or falsify any evidence or testimony,” Schaller wrote in his report. “It seems the witness is simply reporting what she saw. I have checked with the American Meteor Society database, but there was no reported activity on this date. But that doesn't mean that a fireball wasn't seen in the area. It just means no one reported it. It could be that the witness may have seen a very fast chase jet come by, but military usually doesn't show up on FlightRadar24. Based on the fact that I could not find another explanation, I closed this case with a Disposition of Unknown - Other.”
Please remember that most UFO sightings are resolved as something natural or man-made. The above quotes were edited for clarity.
