On 1 October 2026, the NASA SpaceX Crew-13 mission launched from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral. Four astronauts — Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney, Joshua Kutryk and Sergey Teteryatnikov — set off for the International Space Station aboard the Dragon spacecraft. The launch proceeded nominally, separation from the Falcon 9 second stage occurred on time, and within a few minutes the cameras began transmitting the familiar picture: the black silhouette of the spacecraft against the blue and white Earth receding into infinite darkness.
It was precisely at that moment, around T+10 minutes, that objects appeared in frame which immediately drew the attention of observant viewers. One of them, spotted at roughly the T+10:03 mark, quickly crossed the camera's field of view. It looked small, moved swiftly, and in the background the curvature of the planet was clearly visible. Without precise data on the distance, it is impossible to calculate either the real size or the speed — that is simply a fact. But the moment of its appearance itself was clear enough to be singled out from the general feed.
About ten seconds later, around T+10:13, a second object appeared in frame. It was moving differently. As it moved, its shape seemed to change — at one point it resembled a dumbbell or a boomerang. On enlarged replays this change became especially noticeable. The object did not look like a typical glint flash or a static image-processing artifact. It was crossing the space near the spacecraft while the cameras continued to record the Earth and the elements of the Dragon's structure.
These frames are taken directly from the official NASA broadcast. The mission time stamps and telemetry data — altitude, speed, separation status — remain visible on screen. Several people independently reviewed the recording and drew attention to precisely these two fragments, discarding the weaker and more ambiguous ones. One of the observers later noted yet another dark object, resembling a sphere, which passed through the lower part of the frame at approximately T+10:30. When slowed to a quarter speed and maximally enlarged, it looked quite large relative to the background.
Such appearances near spacecraft are not uncommon. Ice, flaked-off coating particles, remnants of fuel or venting products, glints and peculiarities of camera optics — all of this has long been known to specialists. However, in this case two objects appeared almost in succession within the same segment of the broadcast, and one of them displayed a changing shape. It is precisely this combination that makes the frames interesting for further analysis.
So far no official comments from NASA or SpaceX regarding these specific fragments have been forthcoming. The mission continued according to plan: the spacecraft headed for the station, with docking scheduled approximately eight hours after launch. Meanwhile, the recording has already spread among those who closely follow space broadcasts. Some see in it ordinary space debris. Others notice details that do not yet fit the usual explanations.
Every new launch with an open video feed provides an opportunity to look anew at what happens near spacecraft in orbit. These few seconds from the Crew-13 broadcast are another such moment. They do not require loud conclusions. It is enough simply to look at the frames once more, to compare the movement, the shape and the background. Sometimes the most interesting questions arise precisely when everything seems already familiar and explained.
