by Randy Muller
I just verified that the strange satellite and cloud we saw from Bumpass Hell on Thursday morning at 3:45am was the space shuttle, which must have just performed a water dump.
At least 3 of us witnessed it, and we had no idea what it was at the time.
On Thursday, July 19, 2001 about 3:45 am PDT (10:45 UT) from Bumpass Hell parking lot at Lassen Volcanic National Park (40.457N, 121.5W), I observed a bright (mag 0) satellite cross the northern sky from west to east, reaching a maximum altitude of about 40 degrees.
Just as it reached due north, a bright cloud appeared below it, sweeping down and to the east for a distance of about 30 degrees. It seemed to have a faint greenish-bluish color. The cloud was travelling at the same speed as the satellite, and maintained its position with the satellite.
It was a very eerie and strange sight that I've never witnessed before. I was surprised at how large and colorful the cloud was.
At first I thought it was a cirrus cloud. Then I noticed it was moving. Someone suggested it was an aurora. Then we noticed it was moving with the satellite, so we were pretty certain it was associated with the satellite.
It looked very similar to a mare's tail cirrus cloud, rather than a long, thin contrail.