The cloud gradually increased; in the center of it there was a shining point (the force of the luminescence was different). The sphere went east-northeast. The maximum altitude above the horizon – 30 degrees – was reached approximately at 7.05.a.m. Moving on, this unusual phenomenon weakened and got fuzzy. Thinking that it was somehow connected with sputnik, we had switched on the receiving set; however there was no signal recept».
Here is the certificate from George Atmanaki's report who was in Karelin's group:
«… on the 17th of February I and Vladimir Shavkunov got up at 6.00 a.m. to make breakfast for our group. Having lit the fire and made all necessary things, we began to wait for the meals to be ready. The sky was grey; there were no clouds only thin mist that usually lifted at sunrise. Sitting face to the north and casually having turned a head on the east, I had seen in the sky the milky-white blurred spot with dimensions of about 5–6 moon visual diameters at the height of 30 degrees, consisting from several concentric circles. Its form looked like a halo that surrounded the moon in the fair chilled weather. I told my companion to look at this painted moon. He thought for a while and replied that, firstly, there was no moon and, secondly, that it might be at the other part of the sky. Since the moment we had noticed this phenomenon 1–2 minutes passed but I don’t know how long it lasted before this moment and how did it look initially. At this moment in the center of this spot the star burst that had the same form during several seconds, then it began to grow abruptly in size and high-tailing westward. Within several seconds it increased rapidly and it was as big as the moon then,having torn a smoke-cloud or the clouds, it came into a view and looked like an enormous fiery opaline disk of the size of 2–2, 5 lunar diameters surrounded with the same pale corona. After that, remaining the same size, the sphere began to fade until it had merged with the halo surrounding it. The halo in turn sprawled above the sky and went out. The dawn began. The clock showed 6.57 a.m., the phenomenon lasted not more than one and a half minute and impressed us a lot…».
This is how Karelin describes the seen phenomenon in the report: «I had jumped out of a sleeping bag and from a tent without boots, only in the woolen socks and, standing on the branches, saw the big light spot. It was expanding. In the center of the spot a small star appeared and also started to increase. This spot was moving from northeast to southwest and was falling to the ground. Then it disappeared behind the ridge and the forest, having left a light strip in the sky. This phenomenon influenced people in different way: Atmanaki claimed that it seemed that the earth was going to explode because of the crash against some planet; Shavkunov thought that this phenomenon «isn’t so terrific»; I was unimpressed – it was only a meteoritic fall and nothing more. Hardly this phenomenon lasted more than a minute».
Mr. Atmanaki G. V and Mr. Karelin V. G. in Vizhay settlement.
The case also had interesting evidence – the scouts’ telegram containing the information about the observation of the «fiery sphere’s flight» on the 31st of March: «To Mr. Prodanov, Mr. Vishnevsky. On 31.03.59 at 9.30 a.m. local time, on 31.03 at 4.00 a.m. the person on duty Meshcheryakov had noticed a big fiery circle in the southeast direction that was moving toward us during 20 minutes and disappeared behind the high ground 880. Before its’ dipping below the horizon a star appeared in the center of the circle and gradually increased till it became the size of the moon; then the star began to fall down separating from the circle. The unusual phenomenon was observed by many alarmed people. We ask to explain this phenomenon and its safety as under our conditions it makes disturbing impression. Mr. Avenburg, Mr. Potapov, Mr. Sogrin)".
We also know about one more evidence of Mr. Shtrauh that was taken from the article of S.Bogomolov in the newspaper «The Ural worker» of October 31, 1990 and tells about the sighting of a «fiery sphere» that happened in twenty years after the accident with Dyatlov’s group: «On 16.02.79 at 8. 15 p.m. in the northwest part of the horizon there was a bright bluish white flash; it turned into a quickly growing circle of the dazzling light which then formed an ellipse. There was a purple smoky sphere in the center of the flash of size of the full moon, it promptly lifted up and dissolved, not having reached the zenith. The luminous spot-ellipse fell to pieces like the segments of an orange and gradually died away, having left in the sky a gleaming trace. It lasted 6-10 minutes and then it became dark…».
This is interesting. Here are «the segments of an orange» in the sky that were falling!
Finally, the sightings of the «fiery spheres» are known because of the evidences of the taiga hunters (including Mansi ones) hunting in the north of Ural.
Firstly, there was a hypothesis that the «fiery spheres» could be the flights of the surface-to-air missiles. At that time in Ural there already were air defense missile battalions of С-75complex; in a year, on May 1, 1960 the battalion of major Voronov misguided F.Pauers's air scout near Sverdlovsk. It was reported that near the Chistop Mountain there was an early-warning radar station (in 1972–1986 yy.). Therefore on this location an air defense missile battalion could be based before these years. I wasn’t sure in these conclusions as the sighting time of the «fiery spheres» (about 10–22 minutes) didn't correspond with the flight time of the surface-to-air missiles. The attempts to explain this discrepancy as a result of the errors of the timing made by the witnesses, as it was found out later, were incorrect.
The hypothesis about the surface-to-air missile raised a question: «And why to rocket? On what targets»? Indeed this type of fire was a very expensive thing. Allegedly the scouting sondes that the Americans launched to our territory using radio and photo equipment for «espionage» purposes could be the targets. The sondes mostly flied on the western winds of a stratosphere at the height of about 20–30 km and only the rocket could misguide them in those years. The burning of the sphere filled with hydrogen after it was hit by the rocket, in my opinion, could increase some time of the «star’s» sighting and «lessen» the visible contradiction of my «theory».
I didn't post an article on the web-sites because of some doubts, I only post it on a tourist club’s forum «Romantic» of USTU and sent to my acquaintances over the Internet. At the beginning of 2007y.) on the forum Igor Shelemetyev immediately began to retort me. He denied my position almost about all questions, following the «human and criminal» version of Dyatlov’s accident, and asserted in his letter on the 17th of February that a whizbang (a guided missile) «Burya» was fired from the aeroballistic range in Vladimirovka (it was situated approximately in 50 km from Kapustin Yar range).
«Burya» on Vladimirovka aeroballistic range.
The Muscovite Vladimir Borzenkov also objected to me – he, the assistant professor of MAI and the skilled tourist skier, argued that at that time they didn't manage to prelocate the air defense missile battalion on-station and referred to the Tsisar’s memoirs on the Internet. Therefore the flights of the surface-to-air missile couldn't take place. The memoirs of Tsisar (Цисаря) were found and read by me. But it was difficult to draw certain conclusions on the basis of this book and to decide when and where battalions acted and what alert status each battalion had.
I reported to Borzenkov about Shelemetyev's objections and conveyed the fact about «Burya». Borzenkov answered that according to his information «Burya» was fired not on the 17th of February but on the 17th of April – in the day when the «fiery spheres» weren't seen. I was all at sea with these contradictions, they made me to stumble at the correctness of both my and opponents’ conclusions. Having reflected for a while I decided to check the fact of «Burya»’s launch and to find the third source of information that would help me to decide who is right – Shelemetyev or Borzenkov.
In my library I found the accidentally bought book written by A.B.Zheleznyakov «The rocket fell flying up» (S-Pb, «System», 2003), the «polytechnician» colleague, the historian
