Project 10073 Record Card — St. Louis, Missouri, August 1958

This document is a Project 10073 record card and associated teletype report concerning an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sighting that occurred on August 8, 1958, in St. Louis, Missouri. The witness, identified as 1/LT Sam Smith, reported observing a round, reddish, pinpoint of light at 0525Z. The object was described as rising and moving in a southwest direction. The duration of the observation was approximately two minutes. At the time of the sighting, the weather conditions were reported as very cloudy and raining. The official conclusion recorded on the project card is 'Possibly Balloon.' The teletype report from the 798th ACWRON in Belleville, Illinois, provides additional context, noting that the observer was looking in the direction of Lambert Airport. An ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) comment appended to the report suggests that the observer may have been startled by the light, and posits that because St. Louis serves as a major terminal for air traffic, the object was likely one of the lights of an aircraft heading southwest. The report explicitly states that there was no radar contact and no photographic evidence associated with the incident.