Project 10073 Record Card and Incoming Message — Golden, Colorado, July 1961

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and an associated Department of the Air Force teletype message regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon sighting that occurred on July 11, 1961, near Golden, Colorado. The witness, identified as an electrical engineer and former Air Force pilot, reported observing a single object described as being the shape of a baseball. The object exhibited a color sequence of blue, then white, then red, and performed a straight descent at a 45-degree angle above the horizon before disappearing behind Lookout Mountain. The total duration of the observation was approximately one minute. The teletype message, dated July 12, 1961, provides detailed meteorological data for the time of the incident, noting scattered clouds, 30-mile visibility, and the presence of thunderstorms in the area with lightning in the southwest quadrant. The official conclusion recorded on the Project 10073 card attributes the sighting to atmospheric conditions conducive to ball lightning, classifying the event as an observation of that phenomenon. The report includes standard military routing information and confirms that no radar contact was made and no photographs were taken.