Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting over Russell, Kansas, 1 January 1957

On January 1, 1957, at approximately 2100Z, a pilot flying over Russell, Kansas, observed an unidentified aerial object. The witness described the object as a single, round, blue-white light, comparable in size to a pea held at arm's length. The object exhibited no tail and made no sound. It maintained a horizontal flight path from East to West at an estimated altitude of 5,000 feet above the observer, moving at a high rate of speed before disappearing. The observation lasted only a few seconds. The weather conditions at the time were reported as CAVU (Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited). The sighting was reported via teletype from the Lowry Flight Service Center to various military commands, including the 29th Air Division at Grandview AFB and the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB. Following an evaluation of the report, the Air Technical Intelligence Center concluded that the characteristics of the object—specifically its description, duration, flight path, and the manner in which it disappeared—were consistent with those of a meteor.