Pacific (22-06N 179-49E), January 1960January 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 21, 1960, a ship in the Pacific Ocean at coordinates 22-06N 179-49E spotted something unusual in the sky. At 1357Z (2:57 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time), the crew saw a yellow-orange object that appeared to give off black smoke. The object had a white streak trailing behind it and seemed to burn through multiple layers of cloud cover. The sighting lasted only about five seconds.

The observers on deck photographed the object and made a tape recording of the event. However, these materials were never received by the Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), which was investigating the case. Military officials noted that the sighting occurred in a known missile testing range in the Pacific, which made the location significant.

In their analysis, Air Force investigators concluded that the object was probably a missile during its burnout phase, when a rocket's fuel is nearly exhausted. The position, heading, and all other visible details pointed toward this conclusion. However, the file states that without the photos and recording that were supposed to have been sent to ATIC, no definitive confirmation could be made. The Air Force's final evaluation listed the case as unknown.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 pages of scanned records.

Reported location

Pacific (22-06N 179-49E), January 1960

Date of incident

January 1960

State / country

? / XX

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 37

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 7

View transcribed text

i Venn bi bY ATINCNTISE oa He wr as NRT Fi . } d -
; PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
: 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
. 21 January, 1960 Pacific (22-06K 179-)i0K 0 Wes Bolioon
y "3 Vo lyn 12 i Ko \ LL OLD FY] 17% 8% i) 0 Probably Balloon
| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP A. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Gr hosp nalioon
0 Was Aircraft
50 AST SERN se - -
ahiki re H-Sreung Visual 0 Ground-Rador 0 Probobly Aircraft
GMT! 1. 208 03" Air- Vi sual 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft |
5. PHOTOS Nat Reed 8. SOURCE 3 Vas Astronomical
ire 0) iid Hoh 0 Probobly Astronomical
i M3114 tars A s .
| a No Li vanry 0 Possibly A tronomical
TN RT EY LT a A A SR EE Oo OT ER A AE IR ER RR To SR UT eR a ES ry a 1 TQ I BB brett | ET 5S 148 os
7. LENGTH OF DBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Other FO le [lissile
; : ; : X / 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation
5 seconds HINES -e foe ona OL? doe, 0 Unknown
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Tellow-orange smoke, Ubject appzarzl to ossibel missile burnout, Sighting
penetrate multi-layer cloud Bank. Heappsaraed in known missile range, however no
as wnite streak giving off black smoke. goaslirainr. data availatle to cunclude
Lime given for initial burnout. Zhotos taken that. this was definatzly a missile,
and tape recording made, but not received tiowever, position, hzading and all
from CHO. indications point to this conclusion,
; Cho
— —— a 0 I —————— { SS —————— ———— ee A> A Ae ete. YB + wet ee Bn. 0. ER Sle el 8 A A A ~ WA eA A A =. Wa Sr
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 28 SEP §2)
’
vig SEER al ES ER EH aa UTE A Ji :

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28985717