Project 10073 Record Card and Department of State Telegram regarding Atlas Booster Fragment

This document collection consists of a Project 10073 record card and a Department of State telegram detailing the recovery and formal presentation of a space debris fragment in South Africa. On February 21, 1962, a piece of metal, approximately two feet square, was recovered near Aliwal North, Cape Province. The object was subsequently identified as a section of the Atlas rocket booster used to launch Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr. and the Friendship 7 spacecraft into orbit on February 20, 1962. The telegram, dated August 31, 1962, describes a ceremony held in Pretoria where U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Satterthwaite presented the mounted and inscribed fragment to the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eric Louw. The inscription on the fragment explicitly states it was presented by the United States of America National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The remaining fragments recovered by South African authorities were returned to the United States for analysis. The record card also includes a brief, separate account of a sighting reported on February 21, 1962, at 1:05 AM near Kimberley, where residents observed three objects travelling horizontally from the south. These objects were described as brilliant, with the center object gaining intensity and emitting a flash before disappearing. This sighting report is distinct from the confirmed recovery of the rocket booster fragment, which was officially categorized as a known space object.