Project 10073 Record Card — Yakima, Washington, 18 December 1957

This document is a Project 10073 record card and associated military communications regarding a sighting on December 18, 1957, in Yakima, Washington. A civilian witness reported observing a large red fireball for approximately two seconds. The object was described as being the size of the end of a pencil held at arm's length, leaving contrails, and culminating in an explosion and a ball of smoke that persisted until sundown. The flight path was noted as moving toward the southwest. The military investigation, conducted by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), concluded that the object was a meteor. This conclusion was supported by the fact that the sighting occurred during the Geminid meteor shower, and the report explicitly references the work of Dr. C. Olivier. Additional reports from the same time period were received from Seattle Air Traffic Control, including sightings by United Airlines flight 793 near Medford and reports of an object appearing to explode over Monatash Ridge, 15 miles west of Ellensburg, Washington. A ground report from west of Pocatello, Idaho, also noted an object leaving vapor trails. The documentation includes internal military cables (teletype format) detailing the transmission of these reports between various Air Force units, including the 25th Air Division and the Air Technical Intelligence Center.