Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting near Nogales, Arizona, 22 May 1958

This document file contains a Project 10073 record card and associated correspondence regarding a sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon on May 22, 1958. A civilian witness, traveling with his wife toward Nogales, Arizona, reported observing a brilliant white ball surrounded by flames falling from the sky at approximately 2:00 PM. The witness described the object as traveling from south to north, perpendicular to the earth, and landing roughly 10 miles from the road. The witness initially sent a letter in Spanish to E. Hoover at Cape Canaveral, Florida, offering to identify the specific location of the event. The report was subsequently routed through the Air Force Missile Test Center, the White Sands Missile Range, and the Air Defense Command. Military officials noted that the witness's location at the time of the sighting was ambiguous, as he was traveling from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, which is approximately 180 miles south of Nogales. The final assessment by the Air Defense Command concluded that the report contained very limited information, making it difficult to form a valid conclusion, though the initial Project 10073 record card categorized the event as an astronomical meteor. The comments section of the record card explicitly states there was no reason to conclude the object was not a meteor, given the nature of the report.