Project 10073 Record Card and Operational Immediate Report — October 1962

This document collection details a series of reports concerning an unidentified aerial object sighted on October 18, 1962, over Nebraska and South Dakota. The primary report, an 'Operational Immediate' message from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth AFB, describes an object observed at 0245Z that appeared to explode at an altitude between 62,000 and 83,000 feet before crashing into Parker Peak, South Dakota. Multiple witnesses, including two youths from Ogallala, Nebraska, reported seeing a bright, meteor-like object with a trailing cone of fire that lit up the ground for approximately 100 miles. The youths claimed the object was about three-quarters of a block long and moved at speeds exceeding 25 mph, eventually landing in the hills. Other reports originated from Hill City and Custer, South Dakota. The military and local authorities investigated claims of a grass fire near Kilgore, Nebraska, allegedly caused by a piece of the object, but found no evidence of a fire or debris. The official conclusion recorded on the Project 10073 card is that the object was an astronomical meteor. SPADATS was contacted and confirmed there were no satellite decays on that date. The document also includes a separate, unrelated CIRVIS report from October 19, 1962, regarding a blue-green light object sighted at 37-12N, 173-12W, which was described as traveling straight down to the horizon.