Project 10073 Record Card and Incoming Message — Carlsbad, New Mexico, May 1964

On May 13, 1964, a group of civilian observers near Carlsbad, New Mexico, reported a sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon. The object was described as a star-like light, comparable in size to the planet Venus, exhibiting a distinct, cyclic, and flickering pattern of red, green, and yellow colors. The observers, including a 15-year-old who first spotted the object using 5-power binoculars, noted that the object remained visible for approximately two hours and fifty minutes, with a brief thirty-minute disappearance occurring fifty minutes after the initial observation. The object was initially sighted due west of Carlsbad at an elevation of 40 degrees, and it was last seen near the horizon below and to the left of the Big Dipper. The observers reported no sound, trail, or exhaust associated with the object. An Air Traffic Control specialist at the Carlsbad airport was consulted but reported no unusual activity during the time of the sighting. Additionally, a pilot of a Lockheed Lodestar aircraft, flying from Tucson to Carlsbad, reported seeing a 'pale blue photo strobe-like light' in the vicinity of Newman, Texas, at 0255Z on May 14, 1964, but this was deemed unlikely to be correlated with the primary sighting. The reporting officer from the Combat Intelligence Branch at Walker AFB concluded that while weather phenomena could not be entirely ruled out, the object's long duration and consistent descent pattern suggested it was a celestial body. However, the officer noted that the persistent multi-colored light made the celestial body explanation difficult to fully accept, and recommended further observation.