An exhaust trail left by a spacecraft launched from northern Russia has caused speculation of a UFO sighting among witnesses and social media users.
The Russian military sent a navigation satellite into space from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome early Sunday, Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) announced.
Russians who filmed the rocket’s ghostly trail expressed wonder at the picturesque sight, speculating that the jellyfish-shaped trail could be a UFO. Local news outlets reported that residents caught an “extraterrestrial flying saucer” on camera.
Roscosmos later explained that witnesses saw the launch vehicle’s re-entry trail.
The Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Britain tied the sighting to the ongoing FIFA World Cup underway in 11 Russian cities for the next four weeks.
“[M]aybe UFO [is] coming to watch [the] World Cup. Why Not? We welcome all guests,” it wrote on Monday.
