[AERO] de LOS ANGELES (US.90045) vers PARIS (95) 15.10.2024

On 15 October 2024 at 08:00 UTC, a witness in the cockpit of an aircraft crossing the ocean on a Los Angeles–Paris flight observed a luminous phenomenon. The aircraft was near 50°30′ N, 52° W at approximately 30, 000 ft, or 9, 000 m. Looking about 60° above the horizon, the witness noticed a very intense luminous halo with an apparent diameter comparable to the Moon's. It moved toward the horizon, generally eastward, over an estimated 2 to 3 minutes, maintaining constant brightness, then disappeared below the horizon. Three photographs were submitted; one appears to show a dark mass associated with the halo. GEIPAN assesses the case as having low unusualness and good evidential strength, with a single witness but several photographs. The investigation identifies an orbital maneuver by a launch vehicle; see the investigation report. Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. The UAP's description and appearance strongly suggest sunlit gas vented from a rocket stage in the vacuum of space, a process known as stage passivation. Reconstruction of the Starlink 10-10 group's trajectory, following its Falcon 9 launch about 1 hour 40 minutes before the sighting, shows an exact match with the UAP's path. The Falcon 9's final stage was beginning its second orbit, a favorable time for a deorbit burn intended to bring it down over the Indian Ocean. The GEIPAN note FALCON 9 and STARLINK describes this process. The case is classified as A: observation of rocket components during a deorbit maneuver, specifically the second stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle.