NASA's Unexplained Files

NASA's mission is to explore the unknown.

Kavelaars: There's more that we don't know than we do know.

That's just the nature of the universe.

In the search for answers,

it launches its scientists into space,

its craft beyond the limits of the solar system.

Man: Taking risks is part of making discoveries.

Space exploration is like lighting a match,

and we don't know what lurks in the shadows.

There could be anything out there.

Mysterious craft and symbols in space,

aliens that live for millions of years,

death rays capable of destroying worlds.

NASA's missions have uncovered disturbing anomalies...

Man: Okay, we're seeing three or four objects.

Jett: There are... there are three objects.

...that continue to perplex

our finest scientific minds.

These are "NASA's Unexplained Files".

Three objects float in a triangular formation.

Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen

on the outside of the shuttle.

That's for sure.

NASA says it's space junk.

Why are they filming if it's just space junk?

Oberg: You don't start by eliminating the obvious.

You start by opening your mind to all the possibilities.

But these unidentified objects

could threaten an entire shuttle mission.

Okay, we're seeing three or four objects.

Yeah, there are... there are three objects.

Man: Okay, copy. The next is to mate p5 to j5.

September 20, 2006.

Space Shuttle Atlantis prepares to come home.

Its crew has spent the last 12 days

assembling the International Space Station.

Then something happens that no one expects.

Man: Okay. Um...

Houston. Atlantis.

Go ahead.

The day before the shuttle returns back to Earth,

the commander reports kind of sighting something

that he's not seen before.

Jett: There's some kind of reflective structure.

Mission control asks commander Brent Jett

to describe what he sees.

Jett: A structure that's definitely not rigid or...

It's not a, you know, solid, metal structure.

Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen

on the outside of the shuttle.

That's for sure.

Mission control take remote control

of the payload bay camera.

That's when things start to really get interesting.

Okay, we're seeing three or four objects.

Jett: Yeah, there are... there are three objects.

Strangely enough, at that point, you have multiple objects...

three, you know, two more that join in,

essentially form some sort of triangular formation.

For 20 minutes,

Atlantis tracks the flashing lights across the sky,

beaming images back to mission control.

Man: They're going over the video

that you guys sent down.

The video is looked at right away.

And engineers jump on it right away.

"find out what it is."

When news of the sightings

reaches the media,

it causes a sensation.

Woman: Everyone's buzzing

about these three objects that were seen.

We are awash with stories about unexplained craft.

But when you get these from astronauts,

you pay a little bit more attention.

In the lore of what are termed unidentified flying objects,

one of the most iconic shapes in all of that is the triangle,

so this fits the bill.

Based on the way the objects are moving,

NASA assumes this is space debris

reflecting the sunlight.

You are flying through a vacuum,

so things that are out in space

will generally tend to hang out together.

Having three objects, you always have a triangle.

But not everyone agrees

with the official explanation.

NASA's explanation of space junk, to me,

is just, you know, just ridiculous.

They should be able to recognize what space junks are.

These guys are astronauts, okay?

They're trained for this.

But NASA really does suspect

they're tracking space junk, and they're worried.

Because three years earlier,

shuttle debris brought down the shuttle Columbia.

Following what occurred on STS-107,

when we lost Columbia,

NASA is very interested

in tracking virtually every piece of debris.

NASA fears the Atlantis is seeing

a critical piece of its hardware that's broken off.

Oberg: In mission control,

we really want to get pictures like this

of anything floating nearby any shuttle,

especially if it appears to have come off the shuttle.

This kind of warning that was missed in 2003

are the warnings you want to get every time.

And you want to find them out, you want to see them,

you want to report them, and you want to react to them.

Unsure what these unidentified objects are,

NASA doesn't take any chances.

Man: They decided that based on this object that we saw

that we're gonna wave off tomorrow.

So our next deorbit opportunity is gonna be on flight day 13.

Woman: Atlantis, we copy.

NASA delays the landing

so they can check that Atlantis has not been compromised.

Woman: This is mission control Houston.

I'm doing the survey to confirm

the integrity of Atlantis' heat shield.

In this case, it looks like

it's more likely to be an incidental object

broken free accidentally from the shuttle.

And I believe that's, in the end, the NASA decision.

One day after first sighting

the mysterious flashing lights,

STS-115 is finally cleared to land.

Man: 15,400 miles an hour.

Off 2 to 25 feet.

When they later examine Atlantis,

NASA confirms that it was hit by a micro-meteorite.

Man: Touchdown.

Man: Welcome back.

Congratulations on return to assembly.

No one knows if this was related

to the triangular formation spotted by the crew.

But NASA's caution brings the shuttle safely home.

Man: Atlantis was a terrific ship.

It was really critical that she perform well, and she did.

Triangles are not

the only strange symbols found in space.

A stunning observation shocks

astronomers searching for rogue asteroids.

What is this thing?

A force of nature or an alien symbol...

It doesn't look like something that was made naturally.

...marking a point in space.

Wow, look at that.

It's like someone had put an x in the sky and said,

"Look here.

Something interesting is going on."

Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona.

Astronomer Jim Scotti hears reports

of an unusual-looking comet streaking through space.

He decides to take a look.

Scotti: I set up with my 1.8-meter telescope

and take some images.

And, in fact, it does have sort of a weird look.

The object is unlike any comet he's ever seen.

It's got a long, narrow tail

and a little funny business going on

around the head of the comet.

It's really hard to tell exactly what's going on,

but something is interesting there.

The fuzzy image appears to have a probe-like arm

reaching out from the main structure.

News of the bizarre object

hurdling through our solar system

prompts NASA to take a closer look

using the most powerful tool in its arsenal,

the Hubble Space Telescope.

Images from its giant 8-foot mirror

are sent directly to NASA scientists.

What they see is completely unexpected.

When you first see it, you think,

"well, that can't be normal.

That can't be natural."

we all step back from the screen.

And in every image, it's there.

It's in the shape of an X.

It's an X in the sky.

Little X going on.

Very peculiar.

The X shape

isn't commonly found in astronomy.

Why does it look like an X?

It doesn't look like something that was made naturally.

The object is traveling at 11,000 miles per hour.

is it some kind of construction? Is it some kind of spacecraft?

The giant X is more than 1,500 miles across.

No machine remotely like it is manufactured on Earth.

But it also doesn't resemble any known natural phenomenon.

Astronomer J.J. Kavelaars puzzles over the evidence,

concluding that the intersecting structure

is a result of a freak event

perhaps a collision between two asteroids.

When you do the simulations...

...You see that, in fact, it would have resulted

in such a structure being formed.