Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — December 1958

This document is a collection of records and correspondence related to a series of sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, specifically fireballs, reported along the East Coast of the United States on December 13 and 14, 1958. The records include a Project 10073 record card, various teletype messages between military units such as the 26th Air Division (SAGE) and the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), and a letter from the University of Pennsylvania's Flower and Cook Observatories requesting data on these events for scientific analysis. The sightings were reported by multiple civilian and military witnesses across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Descriptions of the objects consistently characterize them as round, brilliant balls of flame with colors ranging from red and green to white and orange, often described as resembling falling stars or meteors. Military reports from McGuire AFB and other installations consistently noted negative radar tracking for these events. The official conclusion reached by military investigators was that the phenomena were meteors entering the earth's atmosphere. The correspondence highlights the ongoing cooperation between the Air Force and academic institutions in investigating these fireballs, with the University of Pennsylvania seeking to determine their atmospheric paths and orbits. The document also includes specific details regarding weather conditions at the time of the sightings and identifying information for several witnesses, though some names are redacted or illegible.