Project 10073 Record Card — Columbus, Georgia, 12 August 1954

This document is a Project 10073 record card and associated military teletype communications regarding an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) sighting reported on 12 August 1954 in Columbus, Georgia. The sighting occurred at 0115Z and lasted for approximately six minutes. Witnesses, including military personnel from the 1926-3 AACS Detachment and the 25th Weather Squadron at Lawson Air Force Base, observed a single, stationary, round object described as brilliant orange and red, which faded to white. The object was compared in size to a marble. An Eastern Airlines flight was contacted by the Columbus CAA station to check for the object, but the flight crew reported they could not see it. The object eventually disappeared. The official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) was that the object was the planet Mars. The documentation includes detailed weather and wind aloft data for the time of the sighting, as well as internal military routing messages between Maxwell Air Force Base, Air Defense Command, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, confirming the report and the subsequent identification.