In the Soviet Union for a long time denied and called fictions the moments of fixation of various unidentified flying machines. However, the so-called "Petrozavodsk Phenomenon" deserved the attention not only of the press, but also of the scientific community of the country.
Witnesses of the phenomenon
On September 23.09.1977 The "Socialistic Industry" newspaper published an article about strange occurrence in the sky above the city. According to the words of witnesses at 4 o'clock in the morning on September 20 the sky was illuminated with the light of a star which has flashed, approached the city and hovered above it sending thin beams of light over all territory of Petrozavodsk. All this went on for 12 minutes. Later already in other newspaper, the words of one of drivers of the car of "first aid" which has confirmed the fact of an unknown luminescence in the sky have been described.
The official version
At the time UFOs were out of the question, authorities said that city residents saw the flight of a new military satellite Kosmos-955, which was launched from Plesetsk. The strange rays of light were explained by the rising sun, which illuminated the rocket's exhaust jets. This version was also supported by V. V. Migulin, director of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation.
Alternative opinion
Later an employee of the State Astronomical Institute said that the official version does not explain many of the facts recorded from different points of the continent. So for example, a correspondent from Helsinki said that two hours before the launch of a rocket with a satellite over the city was recorded a large fireball that flew from west to east. And an hour before the aforementioned phenomenon, a similar object followed an aircraft flying from Kiev to Leningrad during its entire route. As a confirmation we used a recording of a conversation between a dispatcher and pilots.
When the management of the cosmodrome Plesetsk began to receive questions, they refused to answer them, referring to secret protocols.
Glass damage
In one of the journal "Avia i Kosmonautika" in 1978 year it was mentioned that in 1976 night of September 20 all computer center of Petrozavodsk and region reported about breakdown of equipment. And in the period from the end of 1977 to beginning of 1978, in windows of houses in Petrozavodsk perfect holes with diameter of 5-7 centimeters were formed. Their edges seemed polished or melted.
An example of one of such incidents could be the incident in one of the houses in the city, where on the 1st of January 1978 such holes were made in four apartments at once. No one knew how they had appeared, but many claimed to have heard a loud bang.
An investigation later determined that the windows had been damaged by a slingshot or a traumatic gun. Ufologists, on the other hand, believed that these were signs of an alien craft flying over.
Today it is generally believed that the Petrozavodsk phenomenon is the result of technogenic impact on the environment during the launch of the satellite. However, this incident still gave a start to the study of anomalies on the territory of the USSR.
