1960 AND SECRET SATELLITE TESTS

 There is some wonderful information now available online regarding a series of test satellite launches in 1959 and 1960. 

At least one of them was cited as the explanation for what a pilot saw in September of 1960 in North central Kansas.

Discover 14 Launch

A pilot of 20 years' experience saw a flash of silver that looked odd to him; like nothing he had ever seen before. He assumed it might be a meteor or a satellite decaying. "Duration and multiple colors indicate this rather than meteorite" (from the file at PBB). Satellites on decay entry seem to be a more colorful experience than most meteorites, exhibiting a rainbow-like array of hues. 

The official answer was short and sweet: "was probably sighting of reentry of KAPPA (Discoverer XVI). Which reentered this date. "   The date was 16 September 1960, over Salina, Kansas. 

A couple of problems...

"KAPPA" - does not seem to correlate to any records found to date ; this may be a corruption (intentional or otherwise) of the term CORONA.

"DISCOVERER XVI" - Discoverer 16, also known as Corona 9011, was an American optical reconnaissance satellite which was lost in a launch failure on 26 October 1960. (Discoverer 16 - Wikipedia) .  The subtype class was "CORONA" and more information can be found here, including launch dates and associated data. (Corona Program (archive.org)  According to another site, all the series 16 launches failed and launches were all October 1960 (Discoverer / Corona-series satellites (colostate.edu)

Discoverer "Secret" file at 203.PDF (nro.gov)

The "Corona" Discoverer series was apparently done by Lockheed. At the time the CIA and Lockheed had some projects that involved the Air Force. From the file link on this page, the report is labeled "SECRET."

It does seem strange that a project labeled "secret" would be named instead of taking the opportunity laid out by the witness and the original reviewers of the file - a metorite. A little strang, considering the images, captured by other CORONA sats were not declassified until Pres. Clinton, in an execiutive order, do so in the 1990's/