Spokane, WashingtonDecember 1960

On the night of December 15, 1960, Captain Edward E. Johnson, a senior pilot for the U.S. Air Force, was flying a KC-135 tanker aircraft at 32,000 feet near Spokane, Washington. His plane was heading 250 degrees (roughly west-southwest) at 400 knots airspeed. Around 3:37 a.m., Johnson spotted a star-shaped object with a bright white light directly ahead of the aircraft, positioned slightly above the horizon. Over the next six minutes, the object changed color, shifting from white to red and then orange.

Johnson watched as the object moved in a straight line at level altitude, traveling from northwest to southeast. The light remained steady and did not move fast enough to be a falling meteor, according to the pilot's assessment. Eventually the object passed behind the aircraft and faded from view. Johnson reported seeing no beacon lights or other aircraft in the area. Weather conditions were excellent, with clear skies and unlimited visibility.

An intelligence officer reviewing the case noted that the sighting correlated with visual observations made by personnel at a Canadian NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) site. The officer suggested the object was likely a satellite vehicle, possibly in the process of re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The Air Force requested satellite tracking data to confirm this theory, but the data was never received. Without conflicting information, the case was filed as an unconfirmed satellite sighting. The full case file, comprising 18 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.