Project 10073 Record Card — Astoria, New York, May 23, 1961

On May 23, 1961, a female witness in Astoria, New York, reported observing an unidentified aerial phenomenon from the third floor of her residence. The witness, who noted she suffered from stigmatism in both eyes, observed a stationary, round, brown-colored 'lighted globe' between 5:15 AM and 5:25 AM. She described the object as having a man circumventing its upper part. At 5:20 AM, a second, smaller object was released from the west side of the globe, which then traveled northeast toward Fort Schuyler at a high speed before slowing down. The witness noted that a flock of approximately twelve pigeons flew in the same direction at the time of the release. Simultaneously, a commercial transport plane was observed flying from the west, which the witness described as having red blinking lights and what appeared to be helicopter propellers. The witness attempted to verify her observation by looking away for a few minutes, but upon returning her gaze, the object remained. She speculated that the phenomenon might have been a chemical helium release or a reaction of an outside coating of a lighted globe. The official evaluation of the report concluded that there was insufficient data to determine the nature of the object, noting the lack of corroborating witnesses and the witness's own vision issues as potential factors in the interpretation of the event.