Femaie cosmonaut sees angels in space

[barbrainey]

This morning, Sunday April 3, the announcer on the local Christian radio station that I listen to nearly every morning related the following tale:

Back sometime during the Cold War era, six Soviet cosmonauts were on a space flight. There were five men and one woman. The woman cosmonaut supposedly saw what appeared to be seven people outside the spaceship. They all had wings and halos. The five male cosmonauts did not see these "angels" however.

I have never heard this story until now. I have heard some wild spiritual accounts before but not like this!

Has anyone else ever heard this before?

Barb Rainey

[Not_Done_Living]

i remember it (or something similar) being reported in something like Weekly World News --

[Dropbear]

It seems to relate to an incident on the Salyut Space station in 1984 which involved Svetlana Savistskaya. There are a couple of different reports on the internet about it - and also about an astronaut that say visual disturbances that looked like "dancing fairies".

If you google space hallucinations you'll see that there is significant evidence that space travel tends to produce hallucinations and disorientation.

Dropbear

[Eoin]

Halos are an artistic expression appearing in both secular and religious contexts. Their first use in connection with angels is by Christian religious artists in the fourth century as a way of indicating a holy nature. Seeing figures with halos likely indicates the seers are familiar with art, or they need to clean their glasses or windshield.

[BrianB]

Originally Posted by barbrainey

I have never heard this story until now. I have heard some wild spiritual accounts before but not like this!

Has anyone else ever heard this before?

This is a new one to me but I found several hits on Google. For example, this YouTube video claims it happened on the International Space Station (ISS) on 16 December 2012. However, most sites, including this one, claim it happened on the Salyut 7 station in July 1984 during the Salyut 7 EO-3 and Salyut 7 EP-4 missions.

I researched this on dozens of conspiracy sites and nearly all of them trace back to

Originally Posted by Not_Done_Living

i remember it (or something similar) being reported in something like Weekly World News --

this 22 October 1985 issue of The Weekly World News (WWN). Here are some relevant quotes (emphasis mine):

Accounts of two bizarre sightings by Russia's space travelers are contained in a top-secret report smuggled out of the country by a Soviet scientist who defected to the West earlier this year.

The defector, who asked not be identified, said the report was classified because Soviets fear its release would damage the credibility of their space program.

"They would prefer to write off the sightings as hallucinations or some form of unexplained natural phenomenon," said the former space Soviet space scientist.

"But the evidence seems to indicate that what they saw was more supernatural than natural."

Typical WWN story: Completely unverifiable and with a not-so-subtle jab at the Soviet Union's lack of religiosity. Since nothing precedes it and it has all of the major details of the all the later stories I think that it's safe to assume the WWN issue that Not_Done_Living linked to is the source.

Brian

[barbrainey]

The radio announcer did say the cosmonaut's name was Svetlana or Svetyana. It no doubt was a report that cannot be reliably confirmed.

It is just that it sounds so silly.

You're right that space travel can cause hallucinations.

Barb Rainey

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Eoin

Halos are an artistic expression appearing in both secular and religious contexts. Their first use in connection with angels is by Christian religious artists in the fourth century as a way of indicating a holy nature. Seeing figures with halos likely indicates the seers are familiar with art, or they need to clean their glasses or windshield.

Or replace their contact lenses.