Project 10073 Record Card — Wilmington, North Carolina, 14 February 1963

On 14 February 1963, two witnesses—a truck driver and a student—observed an unidentified object near Wilmington, North Carolina. The sighting lasted for three hours, beginning at 1000Z. The witnesses described the object as a round, shiny, white object, roughly the size of a baseball, which appeared to be bouncing and moving in a slow, straight line. One witness noted that the object appeared to have something trailing behind it, resembling a parachute. The object was observed through a telescope, which revealed a blue tint. As the sun rose, the object appeared yellow. The report was initially filed by the 701st Radar Squadron at Fort Fisher Air Force Station. The investigation concluded that the sighting was an astronomical observation of the planet Venus, which was positioned in the southeast at approximately 30 degrees elevation prior to sunrise. The report notes that the object's appearance and behavior were consistent with the planet's visibility, and that it would disappear as the sun rose. While some internal notes speculated about the possibility of a polar orbital satellite or a tin-foil orbital balloon, the final conclusion on the Project 10073 record card officially categorized the event as Venus.