Mystery of Omsk UFOs Finally Unveiled

The night sky was filled with the glow that outshone the stars

Enthusiasts have helped to unveil the mystery of an unusual phenomenon - the origin of the strange "medusa" in the sky of the Russian Omsk region before dawn.

On June 20th, at about 3 a.m., residents of the Siberian city of Omsk could see a wide bright stripe on the sky. The stripe was swelling, stratifying and twirling, covering the sky with circles. The glow was very bright, it was outshining the stars. People started talking about an unidentified flying object.

The strange phenomenon was not witnessed by common people alone. Astronomer Vladimir Krupko and a group of scientists were conducting astronomic research that night at the Omsk planetarium. The photo and video equipment was working too: students were observing noctilucent clouds. The unusual phenomenon in the atmosphere was filmed, and Vladimir Krupko was discussing the event with other people already in the morning.

As it turned out, the mysterious glow - the bright stripe above the horizon - could be seen in Moscow as well. Pilots saw it too that night. The Omsk-based astronomer posted a message on the Internet, in which he said that the phenomenon had been filmed. The message produced a sensation. However, people that thoroughly deal with UFOs recognized something that they already knew. The footage showed the moment, when the first stage of a carrier rocket was separating. At least, it looked like it. There are a lot of similar tapes: the separation of the first stage usually takes place in the visibility zone of a cosmodrome.

There was no official message reported about the launch of a rocket that night, which brought up a version of secret military activities. Omsk astronomers decided to check the version of a UFO anyway.

Moscow astronomers and ufologists had friends among the employees of the military cosmodrome in Plesetsk. They confirmed in correspondence that carrier rocket Molniya-M had been launched at the mentioned time. The rocket took a military satellite to the orbit. In return to the information, military men asked astronomers to send the video tape to them.

Omsk astronomers have filmed the moment, when the second stage of the carrier rocket was separating. That was an extremely rare occasion, because military men did not have such a tape before. The separation of the second stage happens thousands of kilometers far from the cosmodrome. It is possible to see something only during sunset or before-dawn hours, when it is night on Earth, but the rocket's tail of gas is lit with the sunlight. In Russia, such events can be seen only in Omsk and on the outskirts of the city. The separated parts do not fall down chaotically. The space garbage is a great danger to people, that is why the separation process takes place above sparsely populated areas. According to the agreement between the Omsk regional administration and the Russian Space Agency, a big swamp in the north of the Omsk region was defined as the "space dump." That is why, the separation of the second stage takes place in the visibility area in Omsk. This explains numerous messages about a UFO flying above Omsk.

The first launch took place on the Plesetsk cosmodrome on October 17th, 1989, and there were some people, who witnessed the event at once. A lot of letters and drawings were sent to the Omsk planetarium. No one could even imagine at that time that common people would get the information about the first launch of a military satellite. That is why, no ufologist could explain the mysterious glow in the night sky. Aliens were blamed for that, and Omsk found itself in the UFO encyclopedia as the most attractive city for aliens. "The separation process is a very impressive sight, it impresses people a lot, making them use their imagination. People would even take such events for heavenly signs - we had people coming to us saying that they had seen angels in the sky or something like that," Vladimir Krupko said.

The mystery of the Omsk UFO has been finally unveiled, although it does not mean that there are no inexplicable and wonderful events in the world.

Yevgeniya Lifantyeva