1. On August 15, 1978, cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalyonok, aboard the Salyut-6 space station, reported observing a strange object exhibiting unusual behavior. Later, on October 2, he witnessed a strange shadow above the clouds that changed its appearance. These sightings add to a collection of reports from Soviet cosmonauts and military personnel.
The Incident
* On August 15, 1978, while stationed on Salyut-6, Vladimir Kovalyonok observed an unidentified object. The object approached the space station and then moved away repeatedly.
* On October 2, 1978, Kovalyonok reported seeing a strange shadow hovering above the clouds. The shadow's appearance inexplicably changed.
* The source text also mentions that cosmonaut Pavel Popovich had two UFO sightings, but these were not in space. One was over Cuba in an airplane where he and other passengers saw a white triangular object. The other was in Soviet airspace in a Yak-40 when he and his crew saw a bright sphere that approached them and then veered away.
Investigation
The provided text does not detail any formal investigation into Kovalyonok's sightings from Salyut-6. The text does mention that Anatoly Malishev, a Soviet officer, reported an encounter with entities and was subjected to hypnosis and a lie detector test, but this is a separate incident. The text does not mention any investigation into Popovich's sightings either.
Significance
The Kovalyonok sightings, along with other reports from Soviet cosmonauts and military personnel, contribute to a body of evidence suggesting that unidentified aerial phenomena were observed by credible witnesses in controlled environments. These reports are considered more solid than some other types of UFO encounters. The fact that trained observers such as cosmonauts reported these events lends some credibility to the idea that these were not simply misidentified conventional objects or atmospheric phenomena.