Keesler AFB, Miss., October 1959October 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the evening of October 1, 1959, a witness at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi reported seeing an unidentified object in the sky. The object appeared to be about the size of the full moon. Its color changed from white to orange, and the witness reported that the object exploded. According to the witness, the object appeared to be gaseous in nature.

The sighting occurred at 0152 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), which corresponds to late evening local time. The witness stated that the object was positioned roughly five degrees to the right of Venus when viewed from the ground. The object remained stationary during the observation period, which lasted about eighteen minutes.

The Air Force's investigation found significant gaps in the available information. An initial response from the Public Information Division at Keesler AFB indicated that the witness's letter contained insufficient detail for a valid conclusion. The Air Force requested that the witness complete a detailed questionnaire and submit it to the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for further analysis. The questionnaire responses in the file are present but heavily degraded in the OCR scanning, making specific details difficult to extract with confidence.

The case record card indicates the Air Force evaluation as "unknown," meaning the sighting was not definitively explained. The full case file as held by the National Archives spans 12 pages.

Reported location

Keesler AFB, Miss., October 1959

Date of incident

October 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

12 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 37

= re ISN Pe ST PAVESI FETPTYA ROT 7030 My rye WESTER A STITT TSS SOAMPIITIR fA EPID S510 SATIN] 4 0 $i poi pops 13 . ) vo pr - — Bee . Ea 2 PROJECT 10073 RECCRD CARD X : 1. DATE | 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS i O Was Balloon | 1 Oct 59 Keesler AFB, Miss O Probably Balloon rd x0 bd 0 4 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 3 Tespay, Dalian j oOL52 & ; i 0 Was Aircraft | {ep ca) ribs bu SAREE hl CE O-Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar = Probably y SBETR GMT 0 AirVisval 0 Air-intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft . 5. PHOTOS é. SOURCE a Was Astronomical O Yes O Probably Astronomical No Military O Possibly Astronomical 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJELZTS | 9. COURSE Bi Othepr asso odo ; 1B: Insufficient Data for Evoluction 0 Unknown L 3 tors=s minutes ona stationary 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Rnd obj, size of full noon, color changed Obj viewed was 5° to right of Venus P ‘Fm white to orange. Obj exploded. Appeared to |as stated by the witness. Data incompletp Ye 0 gassecus suostaaes. for analysis. : i ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2) ; a bh v { . ¥ . ° ’ .g j f - By j Fei Ga HAA iia JHE EE A PIS OR RE (RTT DEE SER ARTES I AR