Missile Mystery and More: Strange Sky Sightings - As The Military Investigates a Possible Missile Launch, a Look Back at Recent Mysteries in the Sky - A possible missile launch off the coast of Southern California Monday is the latest in a string of incidents this year where people looked up and, well, had absolutely no idea what they were looking at.
As NORAD confirms that a video shot by CBS affiliate KCBS showing an object shooting over the sky and leaving a large contrail is "no threat to our nation," let's take a look back at events of the last year that left those gazing upwards scratching their heads:
Manhattan UFOs
On the afternoon of Oct. 13, silvery objects floating over the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan prompted a flood of calls to police and the FAA.
Experts later determined that the floating objects were most likely party balloons that escaped from an engagement party in Westchester County, north of the city.
Even UFO experts were dismissive of the validity of the sighting.
"It had the flavor of a cluster of balloons, in my opinion," Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, a private research group based in Washington, told the New York Post.
Secret Robot Space Plane
In April, the United States Air Force's X-37B robotic space plane blasted off from Florida - but the mission remained a mystery.
The unmanned vehicle is expected to take months testing new spacecraft technologies.
The classified nature of the Air Force project caused some to speculate that it could signal the start of military operations in space, and that the plane could be used to transport weapons to shoot down enemy satellites.
UFOs Deactivated Nukes?
The sightings may have occurred years ago, but they got new life in September. In an unusual Washington press conference, UFO researcher Robert Hastings of Albuquerque, N.M., said more than 120 former service members had told him they'd seen unidentified flying objects near nuclear weapon storage and testing grounds.
At the National Press Club briefing, former Air Force personnel talked about the existence of UFOs and their ability to neutralize American and Russian nuclear missiles.
The U.S. Air Force ended its 22-year-long "Project Blue Book" investigation of UFO sightings after investigating 12,618 sightings; all but 701 were explained, and the reminder categorized as "unidentified" due to sketchy reports, a Pentagon spokesman said in 1997.
"We cannot substantiate the existence of UFOs, and we are not harboring the remains of UFOs," said Pentagon spokesperson Kenneth Bacon in 1997. "I can't be more clear about it than that."
Sky Spiral in Norway
A failed Russian missile launch in December caused a spiral of white light visible in Norway that many citizens mistook for a UFO.
"It consisted initially of a green beam of light similar in color to the aurora with a mysterious rotating spiral at one end. This spiral then got bigger and bigger until it turned into a huge halo in the sky with the green beam extending down to Earth," Nick Banbury of Harstad told Spaceweather.com.
An iPhone in Space
In October, Brooklyn dad Luke Geissbuhler and his 7-year-old son Max sent a homemade satellite - an iPhone and a HD camera attached to a weather balloon - into space.
It traveled 19 miles above earth, where the balloon popped and sent it back to earth - slowed by a parachute. GPS and the camera's LED light helped them find it about 30 miles from the launch site.
Watch video of the story below:
As NORAD confirms that a video shot by CBS affiliate KCBS showing an object shooting over the sky and leaving a large contrail is "no threat to our nation," let's take a look back at events of the last year that left those gazing upwards scratching their heads:
Manhattan UFOs
On the afternoon of Oct. 13, silvery objects floating over the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan prompted a flood of calls to police and the FAA.
Experts later determined that the floating objects were most likely party balloons that escaped from an engagement party in Westchester County, north of the city.
Even UFO experts were dismissive of the validity of the sighting.
"It had the flavor of a cluster of balloons, in my opinion," Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, a private research group based in Washington, told the New York Post.
Secret Robot Space Plane
In April, the United States Air Force's X-37B robotic space plane blasted off from Florida - but the mission remained a mystery.
The unmanned vehicle is expected to take months testing new spacecraft technologies.
The classified nature of the Air Force project caused some to speculate that it could signal the start of military operations in space, and that the plane could be used to transport weapons to shoot down enemy satellites.
UFOs Deactivated Nukes?
The sightings may have occurred years ago, but they got new life in September. In an unusual Washington press conference, UFO researcher Robert Hastings of Albuquerque, N.M., said more than 120 former service members had told him they'd seen unidentified flying objects near nuclear weapon storage and testing grounds.
At the National Press Club briefing, former Air Force personnel talked about the existence of UFOs and their ability to neutralize American and Russian nuclear missiles.
The U.S. Air Force ended its 22-year-long "Project Blue Book" investigation of UFO sightings after investigating 12,618 sightings; all but 701 were explained, and the reminder categorized as "unidentified" due to sketchy reports, a Pentagon spokesman said in 1997.
"We cannot substantiate the existence of UFOs, and we are not harboring the remains of UFOs," said Pentagon spokesperson Kenneth Bacon in 1997. "I can't be more clear about it than that."
Sky Spiral in Norway
A failed Russian missile launch in December caused a spiral of white light visible in Norway that many citizens mistook for a UFO.
"It consisted initially of a green beam of light similar in color to the aurora with a mysterious rotating spiral at one end. This spiral then got bigger and bigger until it turned into a huge halo in the sky with the green beam extending down to Earth," Nick Banbury of Harstad told Spaceweather.com.
An iPhone in Space
In October, Brooklyn dad Luke Geissbuhler and his 7-year-old son Max sent a homemade satellite - an iPhone and a HD camera attached to a weather balloon - into space.
It traveled 19 miles above earth, where the balloon popped and sent it back to earth - slowed by a parachute. GPS and the camera's LED light helped them find it about 30 miles from the launch site.
Watch video of the story below:
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