Project 10073 Record Card and Sighting Report — Madera, California, July 1959

On July 22, 1959, at 0034 GMT, a civilian witness in Madera, California, reported observing an unidentified aerial phenomenon. The witness, identified as an attorney and a World War II navigator, observed the object from an open window. The object was described as a round, yellow, pea-sized entity. It was first sighted at an azimuth of 355 degrees and an elevation of 20 degrees, and it subsequently disappeared at an azimuth of 165 degrees and an elevation of 30 degrees. The object maintained a straight and level flight path for a duration of approximately three minutes. The weather conditions at the time were reported as clear, and the night was noted as having a full moon. The report was processed by the 668th ACWRON and forwarded to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) and other military commands under the reference number 668 TAC 367. The official conclusion reached by the evaluating agency was that the object was an aircraft, noting that the observed characteristics were consistent with an aircraft in flight and that no conflicting information was presented. A secondary note in the report mentions a 'Senior Director' who suggested the object might have been a satellite.