Project 10073 Record Card — Hawthorne, New Jersey, 8 July 1960

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and associated correspondence regarding a sighting on July 8, 1960, in Hawthorne, New Jersey. A civilian witness reported observing a blob of white light, approximately the size of a quarter, traveling across the sky toward the northwest. The witness, who was at the Hawthorne Memorial Pool at the time, estimated the object's altitude at 25,000 feet, using a cirrus cloud as a reference point. The object traversed one-sixth of the sky in five to seven seconds. The witness subsequently wrote to the Department of Defense at the Pentagon to inquire if any military or commercial aircraft were in the area at 8:16 P.M. on the night of the sighting. On July 26, 1960, Lt. Colonel Lawrence J. Tacker of the USAF Public Information Division responded to the witness, stating that the initial letter provided insufficient information for a valid conclusion. Tacker requested that the witness and their friends complete an official Air Force questionnaire and forward it to the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The Project 10073 record card, which summarizes the incident, concludes that the speed, duration, and description of the object indicate it was a meteor observation.