Edwards AFB, CaliforniaJune 1957

On June 26, 1957, two U.S. Air Police officers standing at a roadblock near Edwards Air Force Base in California watched a B-52 bomber conducting a test drop on the precision bombing range. While observing the operation, they spotted an unusual object moving through the sky. One officer described it as rectangular and the size of a dime held at arm's length. The other said it looked larger, similar to a fighter aircraft at high altitude. The object appeared red or orange in color.

The object moved across the sky for about five minutes. The observers reported that it initially moved with lateral speed, then appeared to stand still, pulsate, and change shape before disappearing. While searching for it, they also spotted a second object overhead, round in shape and white in color, which appeared to be about 50 to 60 feet in size. Neither observer had received formal training to estimate sizes or elevations, so the Air Force considered their estimates less reliable.

The investigation took an interesting turn. Officers initially focused on the B-52 drop operation and aircraft participating in the exercise. However, follow-up interviews with the officers conducting the test operation revealed no mechanical malfunctions or dropped objects that matched the description. A review of film taken during the mission showed no unusual objects. But when the investigators checked with Edwards Air Force Base's weather station, they found that a small weather balloon had been released at approximately 1030 a.m. that morning, about two hours before the sighting. The balloon was filled with a mixture of neoprene and helium and had a normal ascent rate of 1,000 feet per minute. Investigators plotted the balloon's estimated course based on wind data from various altitudes and compared it to the observers' reported positions and times.

The investigating officer concluded that the weather balloon released from Edwards was the object in question. He noted that wind patterns and the balloon's trajectory aligned with the observers' reports. He also suggested that a temperature inversion layer (a band of warmer air in the upper atmosphere) could have caused the reddish appearance and some of the apparent motion as the balloon passed through it. The investigator believed the second object spotted by the observers may have also been the same balloon, seen under different atmospheric conditions. The Air Force evaluation marked the case as "unknown," though the investigative file itself contains the conclusion that a weather balloon was responsible. The full case file, comprising 21 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.