FORT-MARDYCK (59) 23.07.2019

On 23 July 2019 between 22:00 and 23:00, a witness stargazing in his garden in Fort-Mardyck (59) watched a glow pass overhead and disappear over the course of a few minutes. During the sighting, he fetched his phone to film it. There is only 1 account supporting this observation. GEIPAN judges the evidential strength moderate because important details are sometimes missing from the sole account and the video is of very limited use. The fairly ordinary description leaves the sighting with little unusualness; see the investigation report. An aircraft is considered unlikely because of the light's appearance, with no flashing, and the details the witness supplied. GEIPAN rejects a sky lantern: the wind blew opposite to the reported path at an average speed between 16 and 23 km/h, while the absence of characteristic flickering and the white color also failed to fit that explanation. A passage of the International Space Station, ISS, remains the most probable explanation. The investigation report identifies a UAP moving in a straight line across almost the whole sky; a round, fairly bright shape with a steady white color; a reported trajectory close to the ISS's path around the sighting time; and an observation duration broadly consistent with that passage. The duration does not match exactly, but the account's approximations could allow a margin of a few minutes. GEIPAN concludes that the witness probably saw the ISS passage between 22:08 and 22:18 that evening. The case is classified as B: probable observation of the International Space Station.