Project 10073 Record — Sighting at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, July 1964

On July 26, 1964, between 0315Z and 0355Z, two witnesses at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, reported observing two objects. The primary witness, an electronics technician, was initially watching for the ECHO I satellite. He observed one object traveling from South to North, which he identified as the ECHO I satellite. While observing this, he noticed a second object traveling from North to South on a collision course. The second object reportedly took evasive action to the East, changed course several times, and eventually headed West, descending below the horizon and appearing to land on Laundry Ridge in the Mustang Mountains. The witnesses used a 10x power telescope during the observation. A subsequent search of the area by a helicopter piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas D. Kahley yielded no findings. The official analysis concluded that the observers likely saw aircraft in flight, with the 'landing' effect being an optical illusion caused by the objects dropping from sight behind the ridge. The second object was specifically evaluated as a balloon, despite the observation duration of 40 minutes being noted as unusually long for an aircraft.