PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD — USN Weather Station, Kodiak, Alaska, 25 October 1957

On 25 October 1957, personnel at the US Naval Weather Station in Kodiak, Alaska, observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon for approximately 40 minutes. The witnesses described a star-shaped object, estimated to be three times the size of a first-magnitude star, exhibiting erratic pulses of red, white, blue, purple, and orange light. When observed through 7x50 binoculars, the object appeared as two separate lights, one positioned over the other, resembling a balloon with a reflection from the bottom. The object moved in spurts, hovering and then moving rapidly in a southerly direction. On two occasions, a tail of luminescence was noted. The size of the object appeared to decrease to one-third of its original size by the end of the observation. Weather conditions at the time included a surface wind from the SSW at two knots, though aloft wind data was unavailable due to equipment failure. No known weather balloons were reported aloft at the time of the sighting. The report was forwarded by the Alaskan Air Command to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) and the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). The official conclusion reached by the evaluating authorities was that the sighting possessed all the characteristics of running lights on a balloon. The documentation includes a record card, a teletype report, and a photograph of a radiosonde modulator and transmitter with a light attached, which was provided as a reference for the balloon explanation.