ESPERCE (31) 09.08.1998

GEIPAN explains that it continues to publish its complete archives at www.geipan.fr and re-examines older class C cases to improve its conclusions. New software and accumulated investigative experience sometimes lead to additional findings or a classification change explained in investigation notes. This case was classified C by SEPRA in 1998 and was previously named Cintegabelle (31) after the gendarmerie brigade. At 22:10 on 9 August 1998, a couple on their terrace in Esperce saw a silvery luminous sphere move slowly and silently in a zigzag across the sky before suddenly going dark. Its trajectory was towards the Moon. A witness in another town several tens of kilometres away was said to have seen it, but could not be located. GEIPAN found that the duration, shape, size, colour and trajectory shared many characteristics with the Mir space station. Mir was indeed in the observed part of the sky, although the witnesses did not mention it separately. At the end of its visible path it entered Earth's shadow and disappeared, matching the account. GEIPAN explains that it questioned the witnesses' interpretation in the context of surprise and fatigue, rather than their visual perception. It assessed the case as low in strangeness and reclassified it UAP A: misidentification of the Mir space station.