Project 10073 Record Card and Incident Report — Duluth, Minnesota, 9 September 1960

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and a supporting military teletype report detailing a UFO sighting that occurred on September 9, 1960, at Duluth Municipal Airport, Minnesota. At approximately 2350Z, several military personnel, including a fighter interceptor pilot and various ground support staff, observed a single object in the sky. The witnesses described the object as horizontal and pear-shaped, roughly the size of a basketball. It featured a bright green leading edge, a bright white midsection, and a bright yellow tapered tail. The object was visible for five to six seconds, moving in an arc from the north toward the southwest/west at an estimated altitude of 10,000 to 15,000 feet. The observers noted that the object did not appear to be traveling as fast as a meteorite and disappeared instantaneously. No sound was reported, and there were no discernible surface features. The report confirms that there were no aircraft or balloon releases in the area at the time, and no physical evidence was recovered. Weather conditions were reported as clear with 15 miles of visibility. The official conclusion recorded on the project card is that the object was 'probably a very large and very bright meteor.' The teletype communication includes a remark suggesting the incident 'may be Moondust' and explicitly states that due to the nature of military activities, it was deemed unwise to draw civilian media attention to the sighting or to open the matter to public conjecture. The report was distributed to various military commands, including the Air Defense Command and the Air Technical Intelligence Center.