Wake Island, September 1962September 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 18, 1962, a falling object was reported near Wake Island in the Pacific. A pilot at about 19,000 feet first saw the object in one piece, then watched it break up. The time was about 1055Z and the object was extremely bright. A tower controller at Wake also saw incandescent objects at the same time.

The tower controller reported numerous closely grouped objects of various sizes falling at an acute angle on a bearing of about 310 degrees from Wake Island. They appeared to enter the atmosphere from the south-southwest.

The report was filed under Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports. The Air Force said the sighting was a probable decay of space debris. No intelligence evaluation was given in the message itself.

Reported location

Wake Island, September 1962

Date of incident

September 1962

State / country

? / XX

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 46

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

: BI a GU TIS GUAR .
+
PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
SR SERRA EE rt sta —————.
[1 DATE 8 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
3 Wes Balloon
18 September 10969 eles IRRaRd BO Possit) ooreen
: 3. DATE-TiME GROUP | &- TYPE OF CBSERVATION 4 |
Rr ERG i — | 0 Ground- Visual J Ground-Redar a op Bo dot PR
ERNE 18/10582 XE Air vi sual a Air-Intercept Radar [DB Possibly Aircraft
<5. PHOTOS 8. SOURCE HE 0 Was Astronomical
Z Yes & Civil ian Ai rlinekD Probably Astronomical
“wie N : E43 we : 8 Possibly Astronomical
7. LeneTH 0 oasERvATION 5 ii litary (Tower persanpany % Hoh
7. LENGTH OF C85ERVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE vj Other 22lollite Nopay
: O Insufficient Dato for Evaluation
dh 3 § 8)
not reported | one breaking fip NyE Unknown
i FE I a s&s i pi ee ee ern oc EERE ee em on Ene T——— eee
he BRIZF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING n COMMENTS
Falling object sighted in one piece Probable decay of space debris,
5 breaking Up. Extremely bright, Ground
observation of same phomana of
incandescent objects numerous, closel
grouped of various sizes falling at a
acute angle apparently entering
; i atmosphere fn SSW, |
1 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52)
ho: 3 - — , eR til aa RGR FEMI INT AY SG aE a : :
Ee bid A SS RAS SRE RR TGR
J IN ;
EJ i j

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28999185