Toledo, Spain, July 1962July 1962

On July 15, 1962, a man in Toledo, Spain watched an object move across the night sky with his children. Around 9 p.m., one of the children pointed out what appeared to be a star traveling very rapidly. The object seemed to move from northwest to southeast, passing almost directly overhead. The family watched it for about 12 to 15 minutes before it disappeared. The man suspected he had witnessed a new satellite launch, possibly one inflated in the atmosphere to 40 meters in diameter, based on a newspaper report he read that day about a Thor rocket launching such a satellite.

He wrote to NASA's Cape Canaveral in July 1962 to report the sighting. His letter was eventually forwarded to the U.S. Air Force in October 1962. Air Force records confirmed that Echo I, a satellite still in orbit at the time, would have been positioned north of Madrid, moving in a southeasterly direction at 17 minutes after midnight on July 13, 1962 (not the July 15 date the witness reported). The satellite would have appeared at an elevation of 82 degrees, which aligned with the direction the witness indicated relative to the constellation Ursa Major.

The Air Force concluded it was probable that Echo I was what the witness observed. The Thor rocket's payload and rocket body had since decayed from orbit on July 25 and 27, 1962, respectively. Air Force officials expressed appreciation for the witness's interest and prompt reporting.

The full case file, consisting of seven pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.