Declassified UFO / UAP Document
Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting of Satellite ECHO I
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AI-Generated Summary
A sighting of an object in the Gulf of Mexico reported by a ship's master was investigated and identified as the ECHO I satellite. The file includes official correspondence between the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office and NASA regarding the identification.
This document file contains a Project 10073 record card and supporting correspondence regarding a sighting of an unidentified object reported by the crew of the Liberian ship PENSACOLA on 20 June 1963. The witness, Master Emilio Fernandes Goitia, reported observing an object as bright as Polaris in the Gulf of Mexico at 15.5N 81.05W. The object was observed for six minutes, moving in an easterly direction before disappearing. The sighting was subsequently investigated by the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office and evaluated by ATIC. Based on orbital data for the ECHO I satellite, which crossed the equator at 126 degrees West longitude at 0020Z on 21 June 1963, the sighting was officially identified as the ECHO I satellite. The file also includes a brief, separate observation report from the M.V. FERNGATE dated 1 July 1963, which also noted a satellite appearing as a bright star moving north.
Case evaluated as ECHO I.
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Official Assessment
Case evaluated as ECHO I.
The object observed by the witness was identified as the ECHO I satellite, based on orbital crossing data for 21 June 1963.
Witnesses
- Emilio Fernandes GoitiaMasterLiberian Ship PENSACOLA
Key Persons
- J. S. LaceyOPI, NASA, Greenbelt
- G. BuckwalterSignatory for Nautical Information Branch