Documents / FOIA release
This is a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) translation, dated 23 May 1991, of a report on the Soviet 'Vremya' newscast that aired on 21 May 1991. In it, correspondent P. Orlov describes the Soviet-British crew aboard the Mir station, including Helen Sharman, and a video of a luminescent object filmed near the station. Musa Manarov said he saw the object come off the Soyuz craft during docking. The broadcast called the object's identity unclear and the development fairly alarming.
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UNCLAS 30/WAVE SPACE 292 308 SERIAL=PM2305151591 *** BEGIN MESSAGE 33 *** UDN=Y(26285) CLASS=UNCLAS 30/WAVE SPACE 292 308 UNCLAS 30/WAVE SPACE 292 308 WARNING: THIS ITEM CORRESPONDS TO ITEM NO. 30. OF LD21052Q0191 SERIAL: PM2305151591 PASS: ATTN TV CENTER/VIDEO NAVY COPY TO MOD, MOD (2), UB COUNTERS, USSR COUNTRY: USSR SUBJ: 'STRANGE OBJECT' FILMED FLOATING AROUND 'MIR' STATION SOURCE: MOSCOW CENTRAL TELEVISION FIRST PROGRAM NETWORK IN RUSSIAN 1800 GMT 21 MAY 91 TEXT: //((FROM THE "VREMYA" NEWSCAST: REPORT BY P. ORLOV, IDENTIFIED BY CAPTION)) ((TEXT)) ((ANNOUNCER)) THE FLIGHT OF THE SOVIET-BRITISH SPACE CREW ABOARD THE "MIR" STATION IS CONTINUING. THEIR JOINT WORK HAS ALREADY PRODUCED ITS FIRST RESULTS, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM CAN BE INTERPRETED UNEQUIVOCALLY. OUR CORRESPONDENT REPORTS: ((ORLOV)) FOR SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN, AND ALSO FOR OUR SPECIAL SCHOOLS, THIS COULD BE AN OBJECT LESSON IN CELESTIAL MECHANICS -- TO USE THE BRITISH DESCRIPTION OF WEIGHTLESSNESS. HELEN SHARMAN'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE: THE FEELING OF BEING IN SPACE IS LOVELY. SERGEY KRIKALEV TAUGHT HER HOW TO GET RID OF THE DISTRESSING SENSATIONS. THE FOOD IS STRANGE BUT VERY TASTY. TRUE, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO PREPARE. BUT THE HARDEST THING OF ALL IS THAT EVERYTHING AROUND YOU IS FLYING ABOUT, BE IT A PIECE OF BREAD OR THE CREW COMMANDER. OUR BRITISH COLLEAGUES WERE VERY PLEASED TO HEAR ALL THIS. BUT THE REAL PROBLEMS LIE OUTSIDE THE STATION. THE POINT IS THAT YESTERDAY EVENING, DURING THE LATE COMMUNICATIONS SESSION, A STRANGE OBJECT WAS FILMED. YOU CAN SEE IT NOW, THERE, AT THE VERY CENTER OF THE SCREEN. （VIDEO SHOWS "MIR" STATION AND A LUMINESCENT OBJECT HOVERING AROUND IT) IF IT WERE A UFO, IT WOULD NOT BE TOO BAD. BUT MUSA MANAROV, WHO WAS FILMING THE CRAFT DURING THE DOCKING WITH THE STATION, HAS FUELED DOUBTS BY SAYING THAT HE SAW THAT OBJECT COME OFF THE CRAFT. OF COURSE, THERE IS NOTHING CHEEERFUL ABOUT THE FACT THAT AN OBJECT OF QUITE A CONSIDERABLE SIZE IS FLYING AROUND THE STATION, EVEN IF IT IS NOT A PART OF THE SOYUZ TRANSPORT CRAFT. ((UNIDENTIFIED VOICE)) MOVE CLOSER, PLEASE. ((ORLOV)) MEANWHILE, LET ME REMIND YOU THAT HELEN SHARMAN IS THE FIRST WOMAN ABOARD THE "MIR" STATION. SOMETHING TO MAKE SEAMEN ENVIOUS. BUT JOKES APART, IT IS NOT CLEAR WHAT THE OBJECT ACCOMPANYING THE STATION IS. ((ANNOUNCER)) WE WILL WAIT FOR FURTHER REPORTS. THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING, BUT ALSO A FAIRLY ALARMING DEVELOPMENT. (ENDALL) 211800 23/1817Z MAY BT #5753 NNNN NNN UNCLAS 30/WAVE SPACE 292 308 Approved for Release 212010
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 1 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.