posted on Oct, 15 2009 @ 04:01 PM
This is still officially unexplained, but there is a reasonable explanation for what they saw.
It still hasn't been 100% proven (and probably never will be), but most people think what they saw was probably the "Spacecraft Lunar Module
Adapter" (SLA) panels that came off of the S-IVB (or S4B) -- which was the 3rd stage of the Saturn V.
The SLA panels were four metal pieces that acted as a kind of "reducer" that tapers down from the diameter of the S-IVB to the diameter of the
spacecraft above it. They also acted as a shroud for the Lunar Module.
In "Moonshot" last night, they even mentioned those panels. They HAD seen those panels come loose from the S-IVB and they said perhaps that's what
they saw (although they left it rather ambiguous and ominous). The S-IVB could be tracked, but not the SLA panels. They knew the panels had come
loose, so that's what they could have seen.
Apollo 13 also saw the SLA panels in the distance as flashes of light, and that sighting of the SLA panels was confirmed, so it's not like it
would have been impossible for Apollo 11 to have seen the same thing.
It made for good drama to leave it as a big mystery in that movie, but to most people involved, the "SLA" panels is a reasonable explanation.
[edit on 10/15/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]