Project 10073 Record Card and Associated Correspondence — Sighting of 28 March 1959

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and a series of military message forms regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon reported on March 28, 1959. The sighting occurred west of Los Angeles, California, and was witnessed by several airline captains, whose reports were deemed reliable by military investigators. The witnesses described a 'blueish-white to yellow' rocket-like object, approximately one-tenth the diameter of the full moon, traveling very fast from the northwest to the southeast. The object was observed to have incandescent balls falling off, creating a tail. The duration of the sighting was estimated between 25 and 40 seconds. Military authorities at the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base initiated an inquiry, requesting specific details from the 1972nd AACS RON regarding the object's elevation, flight path, and the exact position of the observing aircraft. The inquiry also sought to determine if any missile launches had occurred at Vandenberg or White Sands. The final assessment, provided by Captain L. H. Laker, an operations officer, suggested the object was possibly a rocket or a satellite. The investigator's notes on the record card further suggest the phenomenon was likely a meteor of the Bolide type, noting that the observed 'sparks' were consistent with such sightings and that the object's trajectory was inconsistent with a missile launch.