Portland, OregonSeptember 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 29, 1960, a civilian in Portland, Oregon, reported an object at 0225 (about 6:25 p.m. local), at twilight. The witness saw an object about the size of a dime held at arm's length. It looked like a large fire that diminished in size and dropped burning debris. A loud explosion was heard, followed by a smaller one. It appeared about 78 degrees up and disappeared into the horizon, moving northwest to southeast over east Portland. The sighting lasted 2 to 3 minutes. The sky was clear. The witness's reliability was considered good. A radio station also reported an explosion to the county sheriff. The Air Force listed the case as insufficient data. The card noted it had the characteristics of a bolide, but the 2 to 3 minute duration ruled that out, and it was possibly a reentry of a satellite fragment.

Reported location

Portland, Oregon

Date of incident

September 1960

State / country

OR / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 40

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

“PP. oF PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ~~ :
NY ———————
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
29 Sep 60 0 Was Bolloon
2 p Portland, Oregon O Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION TEV SIN
O Wos Aiicraft
Rr LER CR ee SS SI I Ground- Visual O Ground-Rodar a Probolly AA
GMT _ 3 0/ 02252 O Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aireroft
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical |
0 Yes O Probably Astronomical |
tl No Civilian : DO Possibly Astronomicol
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE a CT ARIAT REA ORR SOA
Insufficient Dato for Evaluation
2-3 min one NW-SE O Unknown
CAEL TERRE OT en TaN RE. EAN a ae SN, RSNA STN ORDERS DA et WRC
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
yg Object aprox size of dime held at arm's length.| There is insufficient evidence available
Large fire diminishing in size and dropping for a valid conclusion. Object has all
burning debris. Loud explofion followad by characteristics of a "bolide," however
smaller. Appeared TO°. Disappeared indo horizon}, duration of 2-3 min rules this out. Case
listed as insufficient data. There were
three fragments of 1960 Epsilon that
: reentered during the latter part of Sept
or first part of October, It is possible
: that tis observation was a reentry of orje
of these satellites, lio color or descripgtic
given ,
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SFP 52)
- :
: p , : .,
Vy / *

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28989480