A NASA livestream from the International Space Station ignited fresh online speculation this week after viewers noticed clusters of bright lights moving beneath the ISS camera moments before the feed abruptly switched angles and briefly cut out. The footage, circulated widely on X and Reddit, prompted claims that the broadcast captured an unidentified flying object just before NASA allegedly "cut the feed," a narrative pushed by UFO-focused accounts but challenged by space analysts and users familiar with ISS operations.
The video originated from the ISS's Earth-facing camera, which frequently shows night-side passes over illuminated regions of the planet. The account UFO mania shared a one-minute clip claiming unexplained lights had passed under the station at approximately 11:04 a.m. U.S. Central Time. The post asserted that NASA replaced the stream with a signal-loss screen immediately after the lights appeared, raising suspicions among some viewers that the agency interrupted the broadcast deliberately.
The lights appeared as several bright points gliding steadily across the frame, prompting supporters of the UFO interpretation to argue that the movement looked too coordinated to be reflections, satellites or ground illumination. Others claimed that if the visuals were ordinary city lights, NASA would not have switched cameras so quickly after the lights became visible.
Once the video reached Reddit's r/UFOs community, however, alternative explanations began to dominate the discussion. Users noted that the on-screen ISS tracker indicated the station was flying over Australia at night during the broadcast, a region where city lights and seasonal bushfires commonly appear in Earth-facing footage. Several commenters observed that the brightness settings on this camera often amplify smaller light sources, making them appear to move as the station travels at more than 17,000 miles per hour.
Reddit users also pointed out that the feed's momentary interruption occurred nearly a full minute after the lights had left the frame, consistent with routine communication handovers between NASA satellites. These brief dropouts are a documented part of ISS streaming and typically appear multiple times per day during long-duration broadcasts.
NASA has not issued a formal statement about the clip. The agency has regularly explained in past advisories that ISS livestream disruptions occur during satellite transitions and do not indicate intentional concealment. Engineers familiar with the system say that Earth-facing cameras frequently display moving ground illumination, atmospheric reflections and wildfire hotspots-all of which can appear unusual when viewed without flight-path context.
