NASA’s STS-96 was the first docking mission to the ISS flown inside Space Shuttle Discovery in 1999. The objective of the mission was to carry the Spacehab module – filled with cargo – up to the space centre ready for its first manned mission a year later. However, as the world watched on through a live stream of the ISS on TV, conspiracy theories quickly emerged as viewers spotted a strange object in the background, Amazon Prime’s “Secret Space” series revealed.
The 2017 documentary detailed: “This event took place on June 3, 1999, east of New Zealand.
“At the time, Mission Control Houston was in the early hours of the morning and the crew were sleeping.
“On orbit, the sun was just setting and Discovery was flying tail-first into the night.
“But just off the tail could be seen a reddish, glowing orb pulsating slowly and never moving out of a fixed position, suggesting it was in the same orbit as Discovery.”
The documentary went on to reveal how, as the sun set, the UFO remained in place before the live feed was cut.
It continued: “As the sun sets on the vertical tail, please notice the object on the centre of the screen.
“The object is out there beyond the vertical tail of Discovery.
“We can see here that, as the sun sets, the vertical tail is lost in the darkness of night, but the object remains.
“This is proof that it is self-luminous.
“Suddenly the live feed is cut and we are taken back to the animated tracker again.”