Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — September 1959

This document archive details a series of reports concerning an unidentified aerial object sighted on the evening of September 24, 1959. The sighting was reported by multiple observers, including military personnel at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina and a civilian in the vicinity of Lynchburg, Virginia. The object was consistently described as a bright green, cigar-shaped or round entity with a long white tail, resembling fire or exhaust. Observers noted that the object moved in a straight line from east to west at a slow speed, maintaining a constant altitude of approximately 5,000 to 7,000 feet before disappearing behind terrain or trees. The duration of the sighting was estimated between 5 and 30 seconds. Despite the reports, no radar contact was established by the AC & W site at Kure Beach, North Carolina, and no physical evidence was recovered. The Air Force investigation, conducted under Project 10073, concluded that the object was likely a large meteor or shooting star. The documentation includes internal Air Force message traffic, a record card, and subsequent correspondence from 1960 and 1961 involving a witness who contacted NASA, which was then referred to the Air Force for investigation. The Air Force maintained that the sighting was consistent with astronomical phenomena, noting that the object's trajectory was contrary to known man-made satellites at the time.