Project 10073 Record Card — Tanana AFB, Alaska, 5 December 1952

This document contains a series of records and messages regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed on December 5, 1952, in the vicinity of Tanana, Alaska. The primary report, documented on a Project 10073 record card, describes a brilliant blue-white light observed at 0330Z. The object was reported to be at a low altitude and traveling at high speed from west to southeast before appearing to land. The sighting was witnessed by a native dog team driver traveling one mile west, as well as by numerous native and white residents of the town. A CIRVIS message (Communication Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings) was generated to report the event. Subsequent military communications, including an outgoing message from the Commanding General of the Alaska Air Command, confirm that an air search of the area was conducted with negative results. The official conclusion provided by the reporting officer is that the object was a meteor. The document also includes an unrelated intelligence snippet regarding reports of strange objects over the Iran-USSR border, which were attributed to Soviet flares used for signaling or illuminating the border against illegal crossings, and one instance of a recovered object identified as a meteorological balloon. The Alaska sighting documentation is marked as classified, with instructions for downgrading at three-year intervals and declassification after twelve years under DOD Directive 5200.10.