Project 10073 Record Card — 20 September 1962, Eveleth, Minnesota

On September 20, 1962, at 210158Z, a sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon occurred near Eveleth, Minnesota. The witnesses, Lieutenant Tomlinson (pilot) and Captain Nelson (Radar Officer) of the 179th Air National Guard, were flying in an aircraft at 35,000 feet when they observed a starlike, flashing white object. The object was first sighted at 70 degrees elevation and 300 degrees azimuth. It maintained a straight flight path between 120 and 130 degrees azimuth for a duration of one minute and 30 seconds before fading from sight near the horizon. The witnesses described the object as flashing at a rate of approximately twice per second and noted that it moved much faster than a satellite. Two other F-89J aircraft were in the vicinity conducting practice intercepts on the witnesses' aircraft, but these were at a lower altitude and were not mistaken for the reported object. Flight Lieutenant W. N. Morrison of NORAD Intelligence interviewed the witnesses, confirming that both the pilot and the Radar Officer agreed on the description. The official evaluation by ATIC concluded that the sighting was an aircraft, noting that the duration of the sighting indicated a speed excessive for a satellite. The observer remarked that while the object resembled the lights of an aircraft flying at 70,000 feet at Mach 3, this was considered unlikely, and they suggested it could be a satellite booster body, though they stressed it was moving faster than previously observed satellites.