Did a NASA livestream authentically capture a "UFO" or "mysterious craft" before the stream was "abruptly cut," suggesting an intentional disruption to the video? No, that's not true: NASA told Lead Stories that the footage showed the Dragon spacecraft supporting a NASA and SpaceX commercial resupply service on December 16, 2024. The "momentary loss of video is routine, and due to the space station being out of range," a NASA spokesperson said.
The claim appeared in a post shared to X on December 17, 2024, (archived here) with a caption that read:
🚨 NASA Cuts Live Feed After UFO Sighting 🚨
Just an hour ago, NASA's live stream was abruptly cut as a strange, mysterious craft came into view. The footage--slightly sped up--shows UAPs crossing the screen before the feed goes dark.
Drones don't work in space. So what was this?
Why did NASA shut it down? Are they hiding something they don't want us to see?
The truth is out there--why won't they let us see it?
This is how the post looked on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken Wed Dec 18 10:37:22 2024 UTC)
The video was taken during a resupply mission launched on November 4, 2024, when the unpiloted SpaceX Dragon spacecraft brought "nearly 6,000 pounds of crew supplies, science investigations, and equipment" to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS). On December 16, 2024, the spacecraft unlocked from the laboratory to return to Earth, wrote NASA on its website. The space agency provided live coverage of undocking and departure, which was viewable at the time here (archived here).
Joshua Finch, NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate spokesperson, told Lead Stories that the video in question does not show a UFO. In an email received on January 6, 2024, Finch wrote:
This video is from an external camera aboard the International Space Station showing the Dragon spacecraft supporting NASA's SpaceX 31st commercial resupply services departing the orbital laboratory. The momentary loss of video is routine, and due to the space station being out of range from the agency's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system. NASA's live views from the space station do not include timestamps of any kind. When available, live views can be watched on the agency's YouTube channel.
Finch referred our newsroom to a 38-minute livestream recording posted on YouTube on December 16, 2024 (archived here). It described the mission as:
Loaded with scientific experiments and supplies, an unpiloted SpaceX Dragon undocked from the International Space Station Dec.16, completing a month-long mission to the outpost for the company's 31st commercial resupply services mission for NASA. The SpaceX Dragon undocked from the forward port of the Harmony module, headed for a splashdown off the coast of Florida Dec.17 to complete its flight that delivered several tons of experiments and hardware to the station.
Finch told Lead Stories that the video shared on X was taken from a camera used during the livestream, but its footage was not included in the recorded and edited version shared on YouTube.
"The camera view from the social post is from the agency's live views from the International Space Station. We do not record that link as it's live 24/7 showing views when available," wrote Finch in an email received on January 7, 2025."
There are other views used during NASA's live broadcast coverage for reference.
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