Project 10073 Record Card — Augusta, Maine, 9 July 1955

On July 9, 1955, at approximately 0100Z, a sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon occurred over Augusta, Maine. The object was described as spherical with a greenish hue, accompanied by a trail estimated to be nine to ten miles long. Witnesses, including an Airways Operations Specialist and a USAF Lieutenant Colonel piloting a T-33 aircraft (AF35415), reported that the object appeared to illuminate the sky like a ball of fire and emitted a loud humming sound. The object was tracked via ground-visual, air-visual, and ground-electronic (radar) means. The flight path was observed to be from South to North at a very high altitude. Weather conditions at the time included high scattered clouds with good visibility. Although the duration of the sighting—approximately one minute—was noted as being quite long for a typical meteor, the official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center was that the object was likely a meteor. This determination was based on the object's visual characteristics and the fact that meteorite trails are known to be effective radar reflectors. An NCO at the Founder GCI station noted that while the object was believed to be a meteorite, it was not observed to impact the ground.