1994 NASA STS-64 Mission & Lights Seen in the Sky Over Africa

[Giddierone]

What role, if any, might the STS-64 NASA Mission have had in the various reports of strange lights in the sky over Zimbabwe between 14 September and 16th September 1994?

The NASA mission ran 9 Sept 1994 - 20 September 1994.

During the mission it did ran three experiments that may have been seen from the ground.

1. Steering Jet test firings.
2. The launch and recapture of Spartan 201 - shiny gold - satellite (for measuring solar winds) it was released and briefly lost before being recaptured by a robot arm for return in the space shuttle.
3. The LITE space Lidar experiment that fired laser light (part of which was 535nm) at earth to perform various land/atmospheric measurements. It did 35 orbits during testing.

Obviously the main coincidental event was the Ariel School UFO and alien sighting on at 10am 16 September in Ruwa, Zimbabwe.

But there were also reports of strange lights in the sky earlier that week beginning on 14 September. These were initially reported in the Newspapers as a Meteor shower, then identified as a Russian rocket. To see the The Herald (Zimbabwe) newsclippings see: https://gideonreid.co.uk/lights-in-...-contemporaneous-newspaper-stories-from-1994/

Some of the Ariel children in interviews weeks and months later talk about seeing lights in the sky. I wonder if they could be misremembering the day they saw the lights and might have seen LITE testing, which fired millions of shots of visible range light during it’s mission.

Spartan 201: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spartan/
STS-64 orbited Earth 176 times during its mission.




Clipping discussing the steering jet firing.


Source: The Times News, Twin Falls Idaho, Weds 14 Sept, 1994.

Clipping about the release and capture of Spartan 201.

Source: Bristol Herald Courier Friday 16 September 1994.


Source: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spartan/

There were also aircraft involved in collection of data - presumably in remote areas (Africa?) that had not ground based stations.

“Airborne instruments were particularly valuable in their ability to fly directly over the shuttle ground track and to make observations in remote regions. All aircraft carried at least one lidar, and several carried radiometers and in situ sensors. Aircraft were operated by NASA in the Atlantic and eastern Carribean, extending as far south as Cape Town, South Africa.”

[Above Fig 10. Shows the shuttle's ground tracks [amended with Zimbabwe highlighted], and the above quoted text.
Source: Winker, D. M., Couch, R. H., and McCormick, M. P., An overview of LITE: NASA's Lidar In-space Technology Experiment, Proc. IEEE, 84, 164-180, 1996

STS-64 Press Kit: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/sts-064-press-kit.pdf

 

[Mendel]

During the mission it did ran three experiments that may have been seen from the ground.

1. Steering Jet test firings.
2. The launch and recapture of Spartan 201 - shiny gold - satellite (for measuring solar winds) it was released and briefly lost before being recaptured by a robot arm for return in the space shuttle.
3. The LITE space Lidar experiment that fired laser light (part of which was 535nm) at earth to perform various land/atmospheric measurements. It did 35 orbits during testing.

Obviously the main coincidental event was the Ariel School UFO and alien sighting on at 10am 16 September in Ruwa, Zimbabwe.

The Lidar would not have been visible in daylight. Compare https://www.metabunk.org/threads/green-lasers-in-the-sky-remote-sensing-satellite.12864/ .
The other two would also have been hard to see (if at all) during daylight, and certainly not at a low angle where they could be mistaken for a landed UFO.

Is there any reason for you to reject the "Russian rocket" identification that was made?
These identifications depend on the time and place, which may have ruled out the ISS at the time.

 

[Giddierone]

Lidar would not have been visible in daylight.

Why not? What in the post you linked shows that? Also see note about the aircraft involved.

The other two would also have been hard to see (if at all) during daylight,

The sightings are not all daytime and not all on Fri 16 September. (see above).

certainly not at a low angle where they could be mistaken for a landed UFO

See the title of the thread is "lights seen in the sky". Not referring to a "landed" UFO.

Is there any reason for you to reject the "Russian rocket" identification

Not a reason as such but it's claimed (opinion) that the timing (for Ariel school at least) doesn't match up. (IDK).

Source: https://x.com/RobertoTenore/status/1714035124143292811?s=20
[maybe a topic for a different thread? I'm asking about the NASA mission here].

Again, there are multiple reports of lights in the sky reported that week, (see newspaper clippings in #1) these are the focus of the thread not a landed craft.

 

[Mendel]

Again, there are multiple reports of lights in the sky reported that week, (see newspaper clippings in #1) these are the focus of the thread not a landed craft.

You made reference to the Ariel school sighting, which had a landed craft. If we agree the ISS didn't have anything to do with that, then that's fine.

There are no newspaper clippings of reports of lights in the sky included or quoted in your post.

Why not? What in the post you linked shows that? Also see note about the aircraft involved.

The post shows the laser not too bright against a dark background away from light pollution. Being green, it also blends with the blue daylight sky. And it looks broken because it needs particles in the air to scatter it so it can be seen. All of this speaks against it being visible in the daytime.

Not a reason as such but it's claimed (opinion) that the timing (for Ariel school at least) doesn't match up. (IDK).

Yes. But that wasn't a "light in the sky" sighting.

https://x.com/RobertoTenore/status/1714035124143292811?s=20 [maybe a topic for a different thread? I'm asking about the NASA mission here].

incomplete

 

[JMartJr]

You made reference to the Ariel school sighting, which had a landed craft.

Though anything that boosted UFO awareness and discussion among the population in the area could have increased the chances that children would claim to have seen a UFO, or helped shape their conception of what a UFO probably looked like after the fact.

 

[Giddierone]

You made reference to the Ariel school sighting, which had a landed craft

Yes, but there were reports of lights in the sky in addition to the landed craft.

There are no newspaper clippings of reports of lights in the sky included or quoted in your post.

See The Herald, Zimbabwe 15, 17, Sept and 8 Oct 1994: Source - https://gideonreid.co.uk/lights-in-...-contemporaneous-newspaper-stories-from-1994/


Slightly unrelated but the Telegraph in the UK was already saying the "meteor shower" was a "rocket" in their paper on 16 Sept (before anything was seen at Ariel school). (see below)

All of this speaks against it being visible in the daytime.

Doesn't seem good to compare this to an unknown contemporary (Chinese?) platform.

that wasn't a "light in the sky" sighting.

Yes it was. See newspaper clippings.

The question posed is what, if anything, from the STS-64 mission could be seen from the ground in Sourthern Africa (day or night) over the period of its mission.

 

[Ravi]

The question posed is what, if anything, from the STS-64 mission could be seen from the ground in Sourthern Africa (day or night) over the period of its mission.

I've looked up the original paper about the LITE system they used for their lidar experiments.
The interesting one I found is this one: paper, as it describes the laser and receiver pretty well.

The importance of laser power level with respect to human eye safety has of course been discussed and found to not be a problem (taken from linked paper):


This shows the power level of the laser used is such, that humans are not affected nor eye damage can occur. It is in my view very unlikely this can cause a playground of kids to be startled. Also, there was never a mention of the lights seen being green..

Another point is that the laser was not manoeuvrable, meaning the laser (when on) was speeding about 17000km/hour across the surface of Earth, making it very unlikely people confuse it for being a stationary light (if it was visible at all, which it wasn't).

 

[Mendel]

Doesn't seem good to compare this to an unknown contemporary (Chinese?) platform.

Better than to make wholly unfounded claims.

The ISS has never looked like a meteor shower, and does not generate a sonic boom.

 

[Giddierone]

The ISS has never looked like a meteor shower, and does not generate a sonic boom.

I have no idea what claims you're talking about and the ISS didn't go into service until 1998...

 

[Giddierone]

there was never a mention of the lights seen being green..

Wrong. The lights seen in the sky on the 14 September 1994 were described as "green".
Source: UFOAfrinews No.11 Feb, 1995

 

[Ravi]

Wrong. The lights seen in the sky on the 14 September 1994 were described as "green".
Source: UFOAfrinews No.11 Feb, 1995

"A fiery tail emitting sparks and a row of green lights". Sounds like a meteor.
But I was fully referring to the kids and teachers during the Ariel school daytime event.

 

[Giddierone]

Sounds like a meteor.

It does but the experts said it wasn't a meteor it was a rocket.

 

[Ravi]

It does but the experts said it wasn't a meteor it was a rocket.

"Returning" space stuff also sometimes shows similar results, indeed. Depends on the object's size, weight and composition.

 

[Mendel]

Wrong. The lights seen in the sky on the 14 September 1994 were described as "green".
Source: UFOAfrinews No.11 Feb, 1995

A single lidar laser doesn't make a row of green lights.

And the Space Shuttle has never looked like a meteor shower either (with the exception of Columbia's last flight), and would generate a sonic boom only on re-entry.

 

[Giddierone]

Here's what is hopefully is a clearer version of the question i'm asking here:

UFO FLAP IN ZIMBABWE
UFO Afrinews Case No.95

The lights seen in the sky on 14/09/1994 were reported in the newspapers as meteors, then as the reentry of Cosmos 2290. However it appears the NASA space shuttle might have been in a similar location at a similar time.

Questions: Were the reports collected by Cynthia Hind actually a sighting of STS-64 passing over and aircraft supporting it’s LITE experiment? Did the supporting aircraft have fighter jet support? If so, is that the sonic boom heard by Hind?

Is there any connection?

The witnesses seem to describe something very high up but also something like aircraft. Could it have been both?

STS-64 was at 260 km orbital altitude (lower than the current ISS at 420km).
It was travelling around 8 km per second.

The shuttle travelled along a similar NW to SE ground track to the witness reported (see below).

Date: Wednesday, 14 September 1994 (two days before Ariel School sighting)
Time of first observation: 20:50 local time in Zimbabwe.

Below is a summary of the various reports quoted from Cynthia Hind's newsletter UFOAfrinews No.11.
(refer to Google Earth map below for witness positions).

• First seen from Kempton Park, South Africa.
• “The general consensus of opinion was that the lights were preceded by a ball of fire which seemed to have a point to it, with a long tail of sparks. It was of a white or goldish colour and lit up brilliantly in the sky. Some people saw three huge lights at the front with smaller lights behind; the count of the smaller lights varying from 8 - 20. Many reported that the objects were travelling very fast North to South others that it moved slowly and one man walked along with it for more than a hundred metres.”
• Dr Nisbet in Zvishavane: “the largest light rose above the horizon due North of them and disappeared over the horizon about 20 degrees E of S. It was about 65 to 70 above the east horizon at the highest point of it’s path. It took about a minute to cross the sky, although it seemed longer”
  • “the whole shower was contained in a band several moon diameters long and one to two moon diameters wide.”
• People on boats on Lake Kariba: “a very bright light with two side lights. travelling slowly.”
• Cutty Sark Hotel (north side of Lake Kariba): “Appearing over the horizon, he saw an object moving from North to South. There was a group of lights with orange streamers or tails behind them. There was a dark,almost·black centre with about 14 lights flashing around it. It was the size of Alexander's thumbnail when' held at ann's .length and took more than a minute to pass over, travelling very fast”
  • Rex Taylor: 'It appeared in the northern sky at about 20:15…at first it seemed like a rocket, but in seconds I could see that it was not. The fiery tail emitting sparks and a faint trail, was accompanied by a row of green lights and a second, smaller rocket. The green lights were in a regular pattern, almost like a series of windows lit from within…there was no noise…approximate heading 195 (magnetic) say 188 true. Hurtled South. It was almost overhead.

• Hwange, near Deka: “several people saw what looked like a slow moving aeroplane with cabin lights”
• Mr Patel: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: 20:55 ‘moved at the speed of an aeroplane…white candle colour. Seen for 60 seconds. One large bright object followed by a smaller object.
• Wayne Morgan: “It was large with a star-like object following behind…moving North to South.”
• Brett Ding: “not very high, travelling fairly slowly”.
• Samantha Peck: “circular-shaped bright light, trails of light in beautiful colours, green, orange and yellow..moved slowly”.
• Vivian Pascoe: 20:54, seen for 75 seconds. “enormous object, flashing shimmering, smeary lights, moving low, heading South towards Matopo Hills. Moved steadily. Very bright front golden light; the white, bright lights to the rear of the head golden light, at the very rear, were myriads of tiny lights, like satellites, which sparkled at intervals, of a red, green. blue and yellow mixture.”
• Laura Tolley: “it looked like a nose cone, with an orangey-red colour and little lights surrounding it”
• F.C Cloete of Fort Rixon: “oval shape, travelling slowly”.
• Lyn Devres and husband in Zvishavane: Object moving SE. 60 seconds to pass over.
• C.H Alexander: “Similar to wide-bodied aircraft. Moving N to S. Five minute observation. Certainly metallic.”
• “Other people thought it was an aircraft on fire, flying very low as though about to crash!l The lights were extremely bright and moved slowly, similar to the speed of a Boeing 747.”
• “It looked like a small plane”
• Brian Auchterlonie of Newlands, Harare: “the bright light came out of the clouds at 70°, with two streaks coming out behind. It had a red tinge and white tinge. It flew right overhead and had a flat base of a dull metallic grey.
• Mutare, Zimbabwe - “Twenty witnesses watched it for several minutes”.
• 'In Dzivarasekwa, Zimbabwe (an outlying Harare suburb) “we·saw·it going from NE - SE”.

Questions:​

The dashed line in red below is a night time track the STS-64 mission took, but when exactly did STS-64 travel this path?





NASA’s diagram of how the experiment worked. The visible portion of the laser light was green. At least one report above describes green lights.



Support aircraft were used in remote areas without ground measurement stations.

 

[Ravi]

@Giddierone

I mentioned it before, but I believe the laser was not very powerful. This means it is very unlikely people would've seen it..

 

[Mendel]

Were the reports collected by Cynthia Hind actually a sighting of STS-64 passing over and aircraft supporting it’s LITE experiment? Did the supporting aircraft have fighter jet support? If so, is that the sonic boom heard by Hind?

The ground track chart shows that the Lidar ground teack did not pass over Zimbabwe, so the aircraft wouldn't have passdd over it, either. The Ariel school is in the Eastern part of Zimbabwe.

 

[Giddierone]

I believe the laser was not very powerful. This means it is very unlikely people would've seen it..

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this reporting but it includes the sentence:
"NASA said the lasers may be visible on the ground and will post no danger if viewed by the naked eye..."

Source: The Sacramento Bee 11 Sep 1994, Sun · Page 13​

 

[Giddierone]

Support aircraft: "shooting lasers, both above and below".
Source: News and Messenger 19 Sept 1994.

 

[Ann K]

Wrong. The lights seen in the sky on the 14 September 1994 were described as "green".
Source: UFOAfrinews No.11 Feb, 1995

I think the color of meteorites burning up in earth's atmosphere would vary depending on the elemental composition of the particular meteorite. Copper gives an intense green, Barium a lighter green, and many less common materials may also do so.

 

[Giddierone]

I think the color of meteorites burning up in earth's atmosphere would vary depending on the elemental composition of the particular meteorite

I was just reading newspaper reports of a large one that people saw on Sept 10 1994 over the US west coast. It was described as "blue and green with an orange and red tail" by one person and like a "huge ball of white light with a blue trail behind it" by another. Someone else said they thought it was the size of a "Volkswagen Bug".

 

[taggalucci]

I can confirm I was involved (along with others) in shining a 4-watt argon laser out of “The Tube Niteclub” windows at night (typically Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights) over the skies of Harare city (Zimbabwe) around this time (roughly 1994 to 1996/7).

The laser contained argon gas and produced a visible blue-green beam with wavelengths of 488nm and 514nm with the main laser line/wavelength we typically shone being the brighter of the two - 514nm (green).

I remember at the time a correlation between newspaper reports of strange green lights being seen over the city and our work at the nightclub. I found this entertaining at the time. I was unaware of the Ariel School UFO incident until something was mentioned connecting the two events some days later. But I really didn’t learn much about what happened in Ruwa until many years later.

We directed the lasers out the left and side windows of the club on to bounce mirrors that either pointed almost straight up, and also across the city horizontally with a clear line of sight to terminate on the non-windowed side of the Meikles Hotel.