Project 10073 Record Card and Incident Report — Resolution Island, Canada, 17 October 1958

On 17 October 1958, at approximately 0015Z, two airmen, A/2C J.F. Messick and A/2C R.R. Kane, stationed at the Pole Vault site on Resolution Island, Canada, observed an unidentified aerial object. The witnesses described the object as a yellow-orange, half-moon-shaped light, approximately the size of a basketball, appearing at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The object was observed for a total of three minutes, moving in a direct, vertical downward path before disappearing below the horizon. The weather conditions at the time were reported as clear and calm with 20 miles of visibility. The sighting was formally reported by the 920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron to the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, at Headquarters USAF. Following an investigation by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), the object was officially identified as the planet Saturn. The conclusion was reached based on the witnesses' description of the object's phases, which the investigators noted as evidence supporting the identification of the planet. The report includes individual statements from both airmen, confirming the details of the observation and the subsequent disappearance of the light. The document was originally classified but later had its classification cancelled under AFR 205-10.