STS-101 was a resupply mission to the ISS by Space Shuttle Atlantis, which left the Kennedy Space Centre on May 19, 2000. The mission was a success, lasting just ten days before the crew returned back to Earth. However, there was one moment that conspiracy theorists struggle to forget.
Amazon Prime’s “Secret Space” series revealed how on the fourth day of the mission, while the spacecraft was docked, something bizarre appeared to fly past near Louisiana, US.
Avid sky watcher and presenter Jeff Challender detailed in 2017: “This incident took place on May 23, 2000, at approximately 9:29pm.
“It was orbital dark and the space station was passing over the Gulf of Mexico – particularly Louisiana.
“The camera was active and pointing roughly to the southeast.
“Suddenly, unusual things started to happen.
“A very bright pulsating object appeared above the atmosphere.”
Mr Challender went on to explain how the anomaly appeared to head towards the space station, before the feed was cut.
He said: “The object continued to brighten and seemed to head towards the space station.
“As it got closer, the camera was panned around and the downlink suddenly cut.
“This is standard procedure when something unusual happens”.
The revelation comes after earlier footage apparently showed five anomalies passing over Texas, the same documentary revealed.
Some of the objects were even claimed to be travelling at more than 100,000mph according to a former Air Force pilot.