Vicinity Ascension Island, June 1960June 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On June 25, 1960, a bright light appeared near Ascension Island while U.S. Navy and Air Force personnel were recovering a missile test capsule. The light lasted about 10 seconds and appeared roughly 100 yards away from the data cassette, somewhere between the small recovery boat and the ocean surface. Personnel at sea level, crew members aboard two orbiting aircraft, and people on the recovery vessel all saw it.

At first, witnesses thought an aircraft had dropped a flare to light up the recovery area, which was a normal practice. But when officials questioned both airplane crews, they found that neither aircraft had released anything. The light was described as bright, white or yellowish, and radiating in all directions rather than in a focused beam. It burned with steady intensity for its entire duration and showed no sign of smoke, which made it different from a typical parachute flare.

The investigation included detailed statements from a recovery specialist, an RCA photographer, and a copilot who were all positioned at different locations during the sighting. Officials noted that weather conditions reported at the time (overcast with haze) seemed inconsistent with the rough ocean state recorded, leaving some questions about the exact conditions. Despite interviewing all test participants, nobody could identify the source of the light or what caused it.

The Air Force concluded that the object was "a flare of some type" but stated that its source or origin remained unidentified. No positive determination about its identity could be reached with the available evidence. The full case file, consisting of 11 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Vicinity Ascension Island, June 1960

Date of incident

June 1960

State / country

? / XX

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

/ 5 * PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Cf Pee da . i 1. DATE Sa 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | 24 Jun 60 Vicinity Ascension Island ~~ |§ Mes Ballosn =~ | 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION Ata, Goo | TERE SOE ) Ground- Vi sval o Ground: Radar B se SABO | CMT 25/ 00342 — ; X AirVisvol Q Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft S. PHOTOS a . ~ us pag rah por : Military and Civilian 8 Possibly Astenemtest | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE OD Other Flare | | : x abst Dato for Evaluation 10 sec one che 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING | 11. COMMENTS CEE | Bright surface flare was observed in immediate| No positive conclusion regarding the vicinity of recovery operation during Test identity of this object can be reached 1802. Witnesses at sea level at first thought | with the available data. The object was this to be a/c flare. Crew of one plane ~ | a flare of some type; source, or origin, thought other plane had dropped it. Question- | remains unidentified. ing of both a/c crews later confirmed that neither a/c had dropped any object at any time during test. ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 82) es | | -f 3 2 | 4 ¢ . 0 so st oie FRE GTE H ae Bl do day Le ) d .