Project 10073 Record Card: NASA Experimental Rocket Launch, 13 September 1961

This collection of documents details a series of sightings reported on 13 September 1961, which were subsequently identified as a NASA experimental rocket launch from Wallops Island, Virginia. The primary report, submitted by A. E. Clarke, Jr., a Quartermaster First Class on the USS Randolph (CVS-15), describes an elongated orange light observed at 0939Z. The object appeared to blossom into a large, bright orange, globular light, estimated to be 75 to 95 times the size of a full moon, before fading and disappearing. The report notes that the phenomenon was observed by the Junior Officer of the Deck, LTJG T. M. Atkins. Similar reports were received from other observers, including a vessel cruising between Bermuda and the U.S. mainland, and a report from a civilian in St. Paris, Ohio, who described a red or orange sphere that appeared to explode. The U.S. Air Force, through Major William T. Coleman, Jr., confirmed that these sightings were the result of a NASA sodium release experiment conducted at an altitude of over 100 miles. The chemical release was visible across the Atlantic Seaboard and as far inland as the Midwestern United States. The documents include official correspondence, naval messages, and technical information sheets completed by witnesses, all of which were evaluated by the Air Force and attributed to the NASA launch.