NUFORC Sighting 20679

Occurred: 2001-12-01 22:10 Local
Reported: 2001-12-03 08:43 Pacific
Duration: 2-5 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Sand Springs, OK, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Left a trail, Emitted other objects, Aircraft nearby

Single light becomes multiple sustained lights moving from South to North across Northeast Oklahoma Sky.

My wife and I were driving west on a rural road towards town. The road is hilly and offers a decent view of Tulsa and the surrounding area. I had noticed a single light (what I casually thought was a low-flying small plane) to the south-southwest. The light was sustained and did not pulse. It didn't occur to me that it should be blinking, because not long after I saw the light, my wife exclaimed that the "object" had just emitted or split into several lights. At least one central light suddenly became 5. One in middle and 4 or more around it kind of in a staggered formation. My first thought was that it was a formation of helecopters or F-16s (Air Guard has a squadron of both within 30 miles of the area). The lights did not pulse, however. They were sustained. There was a main glow to the lights and a slight streaking or trail. We slowed to observe the object as it passed across or field of view from South to North. As it passed the lights seemed to glow with different colors (Orange to Red, Green to Blue, and Gold). It was hard to get a good view of what the exact shape of the object(s) were. However, we were able to make out what seemed to be an outline of the central object. It looked tubular (almost like an airliner fuselage or a missle). The central object's outline looked much longer than any commercial or military aircraft (I've seen C-5s up close and this looked bigger).

We slowed enough to role down our windows and listen...no sound from where we were. The objects seemed kind of "hazy" and yet were pronounced enough to see points in the sky in addition to the presumed outline of the main body.

We watched as the objects moved to the North out of our view. From the backside, it seemed that the lights had more of a green hue than orange or gold. Although our vantage point may have been poor to determine altitude, it really seemed like not more than 10,000 feet. It seemed like it was an object that would land (rather than crash) because the nose seemed to be pointed upward from the tail as it traveled from South to North.

We went home and immediately tried calling News Stations (all busy). I reached the Air National Guard after hours Security Office who referred me to the Tulsa International Airport Tower Security. TUL stated that it was a Satellite that fell out of orbit and crashed in Kansas. That was mindboggling as we had seen the objects less than 10 minutes before and we are 70 miles south of the Kansas line. The objects certainly did not seem to be traveling fast enought to descend and crash somewhere in Kansas. That's neither here nor there.

Nevertheless, KJRH News reported it in the news broadcast as a crashing satellite.

KOTV News reported it as "space junk." KTUL didn't report it until Sunday, December 2, 2001 as a Russian SL-12 Rocket re-entering the atmosphere. KTUL said it probably did not crash to the ground, but burned up before it hit the ground. KTUL went on to clarify that if the object did hit the ground, it probably crashed somewhere in Kansas. If so, I want to see pictures of the crash site. I want to know what satellite or rocket it was, and why it's crashing over U.S. soil.

NUFORC Note:

We suspect the witness is describing the re-entry event that occurred at approximately 2120 hrs. (Mountain) on Saturday, December 01, 2001. Please see following URL for details: . PD

Posted 2001-12-05