Project 10073 Record Card — Mount Olive, North Carolina, 1 December 1957

This document consists of a Project 10073 Record Card and an associated teletype report regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon sighting that occurred on December 1, 1957, near Mount Olive, North Carolina. The witness, identified as a farmer, reported observing a single, round, red object approximately two feet in diameter. The object was seen moving in a straight path in the southwest sky for a duration of five minutes. The observation took place at 0125Z, approximately 15 miles south-southwest of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. The report was processed by the 83rd Fighter Day Wing and forwarded to various commands, including the Air Technical Intelligence Center and the Director of Intelligence at Headquarters USAF. The investigation, conducted by an intelligence officer from the 533rd Fighter Day Squadron, concluded that the object was the planet Venus. This conclusion was supported by the observation that the object's characteristics matched those of Venus and that the planet was setting below the horizon at the time of the sighting. The report explicitly notes that there was no local air traffic and that the weather conditions were clear.