Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting near Indian Springs, Nevada, 6 Feb 61

This document details a Project 10073 record card and subsequent military correspondence regarding an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sighting on February 6, 1961, near Indian Springs, Nevada. The primary witness, A/2C Stephan R. Tanner, a weather forecaster with Detachment 31 of the 25th Weather Squadron, reported observing a shiny, half-moon shaped object approximately five feet in diameter. The object was observed for six minutes at an elevation of 47.8 degrees and an azimuth of 144.70 degrees. The witness, who was conducting a pibal (pilot balloon) run at the time, did not see the object disappear but noted it moved slowly in a NNW-ESE direction. The report includes a follow-up inquiry from the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson AFB, which requested clarification on the object's size, orientation, and the timing of the sighting relative to the balloon launch. The 4520th Combat Crew Training Wing at Nellis AFB responded, confirming that the object was sighted 15 minutes after the launch of a 40-gram weather balloon. The response noted that a 40-gram balloon is approximately four feet in diameter at the surface and expands to five feet at 20,000 feet, matching the witness's description. Although the witness was a trained weather forecaster, the official conclusion reached by the military was that the object was a misidentified weather balloon, with the 6-8/10 cloud cover likely contributing to the misidentification. Radar controllers at Juliette-Angles Peak confirmed no radar tracks were observed during the period of the sighting, and no unusual activity was reported from the Nellis tower or the nearby bombing range.