The “Chain UFO”: NASA’s Decades-Old Mystery and Its Eerie Reappearance Over Tokyo

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For decades, a single, baffling photograph from NASA’s archives has puzzled UFO researchers. But what if this mystery wasn’t a one-time event? Evidence from 2016 suggests that the same, or a chillingly similar, “chain-like” UFO first spotted by a Space Shuttle crew in 2001 was captured again, this time hovering in the night sky over Tokyo.

NASA’s Unexplained Anomaly

The story begins in April 2001, during the STS-100 mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. As the crew photographed Earth from orbit, they unknowingly captured something extraordinary over North Africa. The image, officially cataloged as STS100-708A-48, shows what appears to be a string of five interconnected, glowing objects floating against the backdrop of our planet. The structure is strangely reminiscent of the Discovery One spacecraft from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

What made the photograph infamous was NASA’s subsequent behavior. According to reports at the time, the image was initially uploaded to NASA’s public website without comment. However, it was later quietly removed, sparking intense speculation among UFO researchers. The silent removal suggested that something “that shouldn’t have been seen” was in the photo.

Under pressure from research organizations like The Black Vault, NASA eventually re-uploaded the image but has steadfastly refused to provide any explanation for the anomalous objects. To this day, the agency remains silent, leaving the “chain UFO” as one of its most enduring mysteries.

A Startling Sighting in Tokyo

Fifteen years later, on March 25, 2016, the mystery resurfaced thousands of miles away. An automated observation robot known as SID-1 (Space Intrusion Detection System-1), operated by the Japan-based Space Phenomena Observatory Center (SPOC), recorded a string of bright lights over Tokyo.

The footage, captured at 9:33 PM, clearly shows five luminous objects flying in a straight, bead-like formation high above the city’s skyscrapers. When magnified, the resemblance to the NASA photograph is undeniable: five distinct objects, linked together like a rosary or beads on a string.

A Chilling Comparison and a Disturbing Theory

When the images from NASA and SID-1 are processed and compared, their similarity is striking. Both show five distinct, protruding objects in a linear group, starkly different from any known aircraft, flock of birds, or natural phenomena.

The fact that two nearly identical objects were spotted 15 years apart—first over Egypt and then over Tokyo—raises unsettling questions. Could this be a persistent object, or objects, that have been present in our skies for decades?

Hiroshi Kitajima, director of the SPOC, proposed a fascinating, sci-fi-like theory at the time. He speculated that this could be evidence of a sophisticated surveillance system, placed in Earth’s orbit by an extraterrestrial intelligence long before human history began. From this perspective, humanity could have been under observation for millennia.

While this remains speculation, the two sightings provide compelling evidence that unknown objects may be operating in Earth’s orbit. The hope remains that with ongoing observation, this mysterious “chain UFO” might one day be captured on camera again, finally bringing us closer to an answer.

文＝Hiroshi Kitajima

Hiroshi Kitajimaの記事一覧はこちら

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