Fort Knox, KentuckySeptember 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 19, 1960, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, a military ground observer reported seeing an object travel at approximately 50 degrees of the celestial dome. At about 45 degrees elevation, the object appeared as a shooting star but was very bright and was trailing sparks as a very small comet would. The sighting lasted less than five minutes. There was no satellite reentry reported at this time. The description matched that of a meteor. The Air Force evaluation was listed as unknown.

Reported location

Fort Knox, Kentucky

Date of incident

September 1960

State / country

KY / US

Page count

2 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 40

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 2

View transcribed text

GROUND OBSERVER          PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE                    2. LOCATION                    12. CONCLUSIONS
   19 Sep 60              Fort Knox, Kentucky             [] Was Balloon
                                                           [] Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP        4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION         [] Possibly Balloon
   Local     2044         [X] Ground-Visual              
   GHT   2044GMT          [] Ground-Radar                [] Was Aircraft
5. PHOTOS               [] Air-Visual                    [] Probably Aircraft
   [] Yes                [] Air-Intercept Radar         [] Possibly Aircraft
   [X] No
6. SOURCE                9. COURSE                      [] Was Astronomical
   Military              050-NW                          [X] Probably Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION                                [] Possibly Astronomical
   Less than 5 minutes   10. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
                            ONE                          [] Other
                                                         [] Insufficient Data for Evaluation
13. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING          11. COMMENTS
    Object was seen to travel approx 50° of the         There was no satellite reentry reported
    celestial dome. At about 45° elev object appeared   at this time. The description is that
    as a shooting star but was very bright. It          of a meteor.
    was trailing sparks as a very small comet would.

AFIC FORM 323 (REV 25 AUG 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28989164