Project 10073 Record Card and Incoming Staff Message — Great Falls, Montana, 2 March 1961

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and a subsequent incoming staff message from the 29th Air Division at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, regarding an aerial sighting on 2 March 1961. At approximately 1735 local time, a witness observed an object that appeared as a green burst with a white trail, falling straight down. The object was described as being between the size of a pinhead and a pea. The initial burst and fall lasted approximately 5 to 10 seconds, though the resulting streams remained visible for at least 10 minutes. The witness, a housewife, reported that the trail stopped for a second and then resumed, noting that it resembled a 'go/no go' flare, though it did not flare. The sighting occurred while the witness was sitting in a car observing the sunset. The object disappeared behind a cloud bank. The report includes meteorological data, noting a low cloud bank to the west and isolated thunderstorms, but no contrail levels. A military witness, 1st Lieutenant Austin O. Fernow of the 4642nd Support Squadron, is also associated with the report. The Air Technical Intelligence Center evaluated the incident, noting that while the description is characteristic of a meteor and a bolide, the reported interruption of the white stream and the absence of contrail levels at the observed altitude led to the preliminary suggestion that it could have been the reentry of a space vehicle. The document indicates that this sighting was correlated with at least three other visual reports, which collectively placed the fall of the object somewhere near Kellogg, Idaho.