UFO Sighting, 5 Jun 65, Sutersville, Pennsylvania

This document collection details a civilian UFO sighting reported in Sutersville, Pennsylvania, on June 5, 1965. The witness, observing through a telescope, reported seeing a silver, round object with three small antennas hovering in the northwestern sky for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. The witness described the object as 'blowing up' into small silver pieces that slowly floated down. The witness initially contacted NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center to inquire if a satellite had exploded. The report was subsequently forwarded to the Foreign Technology Division and the 9th Aerospace Defense Division (ADC) for investigation. The 9th Aerospace Defense Division, in coordination with USAF SPACETRACK, conducted an analysis and concluded that the observation could not be correlated with any known satellite decay. They noted that the closest event, the decay of the GT 4 sustainer body (SPADATS Object 1391), occurred 16 hours later and in a different location. The official conclusion reached by the Air Force was that the object was a balloon with an instrument package, such as a radiosonde or rawinsonde, that had burst. The 'antennae' reported by the witness were identified as a radar reflector. The Air Force emphasized that satellites are typically too dim to be observed with such detail through a telescope and that the visual sighting of antennae at orbital or decay altitudes is extremely unlikely.