UFO Spotted by Astronaut Near ISS Identified as Antenna Cover

Earlier this week, NASA's astronaut Chris Cassidy spotted a  mysterious unidentified flying object (UFO) outside the International Space station and immediately captured it in a video. But Russian ground flight controllers were quick to debunk the UFO theory and identified it as an antenna for Zvezda service.

On  August 19, American astronaut Cassidy, 43, spotted a mysterious object drifting by Progress 52 cargo ship. He captured the unidentifiable object and immediately reported it to the Mission Control Houston. But the excitement all around was soon over as the UFO turned out to be an antenna cover from the Zvezda service, reports IB Times.

"Earlier this morning (Aug. 19), Chris Cassidy had noted an object that was floating past the station near the station's Progress 52 cargo ship," said the NASA TV narrator. "That object has been identified by Russian flight controllers as an antenna cover from the Zvezda service module."

Zvezda was launched on a proton rocket July 12, 2000 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It provides functional and structural life support systems to the International Space Station.

"Spacecraft-generated 'dandruff' has been seen since the very first human spaceflights, when the non-intuitive relative motions and impossible-to-judge distances in the earthly environment of outer space tricked observers into misinterpreting visual stimuli," said  James Oberg, a former space engineer who specialized in NASA space shuttle operations and is currently the NBC News Space Consultant.

He says that though these UFOs are not from alien civilizations it is important that people look for such objects as they may help in preventing technical problems for ISS.

This is not the first time that UFO sightings have created a buzz.

According to Huffington Post , last Christmas, YouTube poster Streetcap1 recorded a video of a slow moving silvery object. The same You Tube poster uploaded another video of New Year's Day that recorded two objects outside the ISS.

Check out the video captured by Cassidy.