UFO Case Report:
Russian Cosmonaut sees UFO while in orbit aboard Salyut-6 Space Station
Date: May 5, 1981
Location: In Earth orbit (Salyut-6 Space Station),
Cosmonaut Major General Vladimir Kovalyonok, had an encounter during the Saljut VI Mission in 1981. "I just made some gymnastic exercises, when I saw in front of me, through a porthole, an object which I could not explain... I saw this object and then something happened I could not explain, something impossible according to the laws of Physics."
Kovalyonok's sketch of the object he saw in space on May 5, 1981, aboard Salyut. (credit: Michael Hesemann)
Cosmonaut Major General Vladimir Kovalyonok.
Classification & Features
Type of Case/Report: StandardCase
Hynek Classification:
Special Features/Characteristics: Astronaut/Space, Witness Photo
More Articles on this Case
Russian Astronaut Says He Saw A UFO In Orbit
Pravda (Russia), Aug 17, 2004
Soviet astronaut, USSR Hero Vladimir Kovalenok spent 217 days of his life living in space. "When I was working at the Salyut orbital station, I saw something strange in a porthole one day. The object was the size of a finger. I was surprised to see it was an orbiting object," Kovalenko said at a press conference in Moscow. R
Full Report / Article
Source: Michael Hesemann, International UFO Congress (2002)
COSMONAUT MAJOR GENERAL VLADIMIR KOVALYONOK:
Saljut VI Mission 1981
Many cosmonauts have seen phenomena which are far beyond the experiences of earthmen. For ten years I never spoke on such things. The encounter you asked me about happened on May 5, 1981, at about 6 PM, during the Saljut Mission. At that time we were over the area of South Africa, moving towards the area of the Indian ocean. I just made some gymnastic exercises, when I saw in front of me, through a porthole, an object which I could not explain. It is impossible to determine distances in Space. A small object can appear large and far away and the other way around. Sometimes a cloud of dust appears like a large object. Anyway, I saw this object and then something happened I could not explain, something impossible according to the laws of Physics. The object had this shape, elliptical, and flew with us. From a frontal view it looked like it would rotate in flight direction.
It only flew straight, but then a kind of explosion happened, very beautiful to watch, of golden light. This was the first part. Then, one or two seconds later, a second explosion followed somewhere else and two spheres appeared, golden and very beautiful.
After this explosion I just saw white smoke, then a cloud-like sphere. Before we entered the darkness, we flew through the terminator, the twilight-zone between day and night. We flew eastwards, and when we entered the darkness of the Earth shadow, I could not see them any longer. The two spheres never returned.
Case ID: 396
edit: 396
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