Project 10073 Record Card — Camp Wolters, Texas, 18 July 1961

On July 18, 1961, at 180735Z, a sighting of an unidentified aerial object occurred at Camp Wolters, Texas. The event was documented on a Project 10073 record card. Two witnesses, PFC Stisen D. Rickey and PFC Carl P. Kellner, both noted as being fairly reliable, observed a single, round, white object for a duration of ten minutes. The object was described as having no tail or exhaust and making no sound. It was observed moving rapidly at a high altitude on a straight northeasterly course before fading from sight. The observation was facilitated by the use of a 32X telescope mounted on a radar van. Weather conditions at the time were reported as clear with no cloud cover and a five-knot wind. There was no radar contact made with the object. The official conclusion reached by the evaluating agency, ATIC, was that the object was likely a satellite. This determination was based on the object's flight path, direction, speed, and general appearance, which were deemed consistent with the characteristics of a satellite in orbit, despite the lack of specific tracking data.