Correspondence regarding witness report of Sputnik IV and Discoverer XI disintegration

This document collection details the administrative handling of a sighting report submitted by an Air Reserve airman residing in Chicago, Illinois, in April 1960. The witness, who was enrolled in an astronomy course at the Adler Planetarium, contacted the Air Force to report what he believed to be the disintegration of the Soviet satellite Sputnik IV and the Discoverer XI capsule. The correspondence shows the report being routed through the 1st Missile Division at Vandenberg Air Force Base to the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for evaluation. Military officials, including Colonel Philip G. Evans and Colonel Daniel W. Wickland, acknowledged the witness's initiative and requested that he complete a standard Air Force UFO questionnaire to provide more detailed information, such as azimuth, time, and characteristics of the observed phenomena. The internal evaluation of the report concluded that the witness likely observed the decay of Sputnik III, which occurred on April 6, 1960, rather than the objects he identified. Because Sputnik IV remained in orbit at the time of the assessment (as of February 1962) and the information provided was insufficient, the case was officially classified as 'insufficient data.' The documents highlight the Air Force's process for vetting reports from the public and military personnel regarding satellite re-entries and potential UAP sightings during the early space age.