Space Station/Shuttle

[Matheous]

A close friend of mine thought he was watching activity in the sky around 1998 which lasted about five minutes involving what he considered to be either the Shuttle or Space Station which first appeared as something MUCH brighter than Venus with small red 'flames' coming from one end.
All of this was viewed by naked eye.....Is that possible?
My friend explicitly doubts the authenticity of UFO's....

[CT]

Going on the brightness factor, i'd say it might be an Iridium flare.

[Matheous]

Perhaps -but surely that would have caused some direct light to the general area on the ground??

[CT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_flare
The ISS is visible at night but I expect it's not as bright as stated above, even with manoeuvring jets on. The other week there was a programme debunking a suspected UFO. It turned out it was a russian satellite burning up on re-entry to earth. Potentially something like this maybe.

[Matheous]

I should have added that the 'objec't remained stationary until simply vanishing out-of-sight....

[mibn2cweus]

A stratospheric balloon can reflect sunlight after sunset for several minutes, would appear stationary and have various payloads.

[Matheous]

CT -Please forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject- I completely misunderstood the flare description.....sorry

[mibn2cweus]

Matheous, Quite understandable, the term "flash" may be more appropriate to the manifestation of an �Iridium Flare� although they tend to grow, may persist for several seconds and then fade.

If your observer friend comes to any conclusions as to what it might have been, please pass it on.

[Matheous]

I have forwarded this info and my friend has described the 'activity' as being similar to a software installer progress bar showing red !

[Matheous]

Sorry -I forgot to add this was the activity from the 'exhaust' from one end of the object and was visible for about five or so minutes....