UAP AnalysisIndependent · the declassified record
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NASAExplainedConventional

Skylab 2 crew (Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz) reports recurring light flashes — Earth orbit

~1973Low Earth orbit (Skylab 2 mission)
Analysis — our summary

All three Skylab 2 crew members (Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz) independently reported seeing light flashes, primarily in the peripheral visual field, at rates of two to three per minute at times. Kerwin noted possible correlation with the South Atlantic Anomaly. Conrad described spots, sunbursts, and less-frequent streaks. Weitz observed apparent entry and exit streaks consistent with cosmic particle traversal. These are consistent with the known cosmic-ray light-flash phenomenon, previously observed on Apollo missions.

As reported — verbatim from the document
KERWIN: "We saw light flashes. I think all of us saw them... They were numerous at times - two or three per minute." WEITZ: "I had a couple that I thought were cosmic particles. I saw an entrance streak and an exit streak." CONRAD: "Sometimes I'd be lying there with my eyes half closed, and I'd see a fire sensor wink."
Analyst notes — caveats & confidence

OCR quality is good. The Skylab 1/2 debriefing is the first section of a merged document that also contains Skylab 1/3 and 1/4 debriefings. The South Atlantic Anomaly correlation noted by Kerwin is scientifically consistent with elevated cosmic-ray flux at that orbital location. The phenomenon is well-documented across NASA spaceflight history.

Provenance
Source documentNASA-UAP-D7-Skylab-Technical-Crew-Debriefing-1973.pdf
Document typecrew debriefing
Reporting agencyNASA
Source pages11
DeclassifiedFirst public at this release (2026)
Held classified~53 years (≥, to this release)
Extraction confidence HighHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.