Argentina, April 1960April 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On April 5, 1960, a large orange object fell in southern Argentina, moving slower than a meteor and different in color. The object was sighted by the President of the Bahia Blanca Astronomical Center and witnesses who believed the sighting was nine chances in ten a Satellite Decay. The object fell towards the southwest falling in southern Argentina, passing between stars X and E of the Eridanus constellation. It was slower than a meteor and different in color. A newspaper article the following morning noted changes were nine out of ten that this was Sputnik III unique. There are no other corroborating reports. The Air Force evaluation is unknown.

Reported location

Argentina, April 1960

Date of incident

April 1960

State / country

? / XX

Page count

2 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 2

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE: 5 April, 1960

2. LOCATION: Argentina

3. DATE-TIME GROUP: Local 2157, GMT 0016/5/52

12. CONCLUSIONS:
[] Was Balloon
[] Probably Balloon
[] Possibly Balloon
[] Was Aircraft
[] Probably Aircraft
[] Possibly Aircraft
[] Was Astronomical
[] Probably Astronomical
[] Possibly Astronomical
[X] Other: Sputnik Decay
[] Insufficient Data for Evaluation
[] Unknown

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION:
[X] Ground-Visual [] Ground-Radar
[] Air-Visual [] Air-Intercept Radar

5. PHOTOS:
[] Yes
[] No

6. SOURCE: Civilian

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: Not given

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: One

9. COURSE: SW

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING:
Large orange object falling in southern sky moving slower than a meteor and of a color that was different. Sighted by the President of the Bahia Blanca Astronomical Center, the witness believed that his sighting was nine chances in ten a Satellite Decay.

11. COMMENTS:
Sputnik III decay this date. Possible that this is in report. In view of the observers qualifications a meteor sighting would be ruled out.

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28986411