Project 10073 Record Card — 24 September 1960 Sighting, Point Arena, California

On September 24, 1960, at 1210Z, 1st Lt. Everette Schultz of the 964 AEW Squadron reported an unidentified aerial phenomenon while flying 10 nautical miles east of Point Arena, California. The witness, deemed reliable, observed a round, blue object with a yellow tail, described as being the size of a basketball held at arm's length. The object was estimated to be 15 to 20 times larger than a shooting star. It moved slowly from north to south with a slight descent before fading from view over a duration of 30 seconds. The weather was clear at the time of the sighting. The report was processed under Project 10073. Official evaluation by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) concluded that while the duration of the sighting was excessive for a typical meteor, the object was likely a meteor. The report notes that satellite reentries of 1960 Epsilon 6 and 7 occurred on the same date, but the visual description and color were more consistent with a meteor observation. Consequently, the case was officially classified as a meteor observation. The documentation includes a teletype message confirming the details of the sighting, which was also cross-referenced with a report from Labrador.