Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting of Explorer XV Launch, 27 October 1962

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and associated correspondence regarding an aerial sighting reported by the captain of a United Fruit Company vessel. On October 27, 1962, at approximately 2315Z, the crew observed a bright orange ball of light ascending from a position 50 miles east of Cape Canaveral. The object was initially obscured by clouds after the first two degrees of flight but was later observed at a 40-degree elevation on an easterly heading. The witnesses described a tail of light displaying three colors—red, white, and blue—with red as the leading color. The object was again obscured by clouds, leaving a final observation of a faint white streak in the east. The U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office forwarded the report to NASA's Greenbelt facility. Official evaluation by ATIC concluded that the sighting was a missile, specifically the launch of the Explorer XV satellite, which placed Beta Lambda into orbit at 2316Z on the same date.