Andrews AFB, Washington DC, September 1958September 1958

On the evening of September 29, 1958, tower operators at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC spotted a glowing orange object descending toward the northwest. The object appeared roughly half again as large as the moon and seemed to be disintegrating as it fell. Witnesses reported sparks shooting from its rear and heard a humming sound like wind rushing through the air. The glow was bright enough to attract attention even as the sun set.

An Air Force pilot reported the sighting to Bolling Tower. Later that night, another report came in that the object was still glowing on the ground. A military team was dispatched to investigate the landing site four miles west of Nike Site 5512, a missile installation near Derwood, Maryland. When they arrived, they found the source of the mystery: orange-colored trucks operated by the Potomac Electric Power Company and workmen performing arc welding (using an electrical spark to join metal) on high-tension electrical wires. The intense glow observers had seen came from the arc welders' lights reflecting off the trucks and the night sky.

The Air Technical Intelligence Center examined the case and concluded that insufficient information existed to rule out other explanations, though the possibility of observing a star or planet was noted. The case file indicates that the initial observation was likely a misidentification of the arc welders' lights. This case is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 15 pages of declassified documents.