In 1960 there are some interesting cases in Project Blue Book. It was a busy time as the space race kicked into high gear. When December 31 rolled around that year the U.S. had launched 31 earth satellites (9 of 16 were still in orbit and transmitting as of December) and 2 deep space probes. Those were the successful efforts.
1960 was also a year where launches, one after another, failed to achieve orbit or otherwise fizzled out.
A project had emerged to collect the debris falling from the skies (theirs, ours) and it was called "MOONDUST."
Two examples are found. One in a 28 Sept 1960 file in Project Blue Book for a round, grapefruit to basketball sized object that was first blue to blue-white and then orange that moved west in the area SW of Wichita Falls, Texas. In that file is a telex type page "Moon dust sighted by lcl police to have landed in fiel 10 miles SW of Sheppard AFB TX, search will begin at daybreak." At that time a Major Cooper, Provost Marshall called ATIC to report that the incident was getting out of hand and requested aid in the investigation. It was requested that the 1127th investigate this sighting in accord with provisions of Par#6c of AFR 200-2 DYD of 14 Sept. 29.
A "specimen" collected by one witness (of many) was determined to be a probable spider web. This may have been what was called "angel hair" in the period and was promoted in Donald H. Menzel's 1963 book on the topic of UFO's.
Oddly, in this year of so many things going up into orbit, the fact so many are labeled as "reentry" sightings is interesting, especially when the names and dates they provided seem to be incorrect.
16 September 1960 , Ramey AFb Puerto Rico had civilian and military witnesses to what was first labeled a possible, rare, "slow meteor" but was then labeled a probable "reentry of 1960 Episilon vehicle, part of which reentered during Sept. and Oct. 1960." "Epsilon" was Sputnik 4, also known as Epsilon 1 or Korable Sputnik 1) that had been sent up by the USSR to begin the process of launching out into space. The vehicle contained a television system and a self-sustaining biological cabin with a man like dummy along with scientific instruments. It had only 4 days of flight and part of it fell to earth 5 September 1960 and was recovered at Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Also, on September 16, 1960 a pilot flying near Salina in north central Kansas reported seeing a flash of silver, multicolored. He thought it looked odd , unlike anything he had seen in some 14 years of flying but was ready to assume it was some meteor or maybe space debris burning up. The Air Force being handed one of their favorite explanations, instead choose to be strangely forthcoming and labeled it a probable sighting of the reentry of "KAPPA (Discoverer XVI/Discoverer 16) that had, they said, reentered that date. The problem, as seen in an earlier entry on this case, was that #16 failed at launch and the dates are all wrong for the others).
Other intriguing cases of that time are:
-the 15 September 1960, Tulsa, Ok at 1900 local time, for 5 minutes of a "U" shaped, oblong object, silver in color that moved, turned and changed directions. When first seen the object was about 25 degrees above the horizon moving North. Then, it turned around, and headed South. Then it turned around again and headed back N. It appeared softly glowing, had no wings, and left no contrails. The case is one that was investigated by "other" individuals (the forms are different and the technique is different. The interviewing individual made one of the most sexist and derogatory reports found in the files of PBB. The conclusion was that even though "the fact witness lives near an airport does not mean they can't misidentify a high-flying a/c." It was apparent there was something being hidden because people who live near to bases and airports have a better than average awareness of the variety possible in aircraft. The fact that this one did not act normal was what led to the report.
-17 September 1960 (the day after the Salina, KS event) there was a "military" report from Kirksville AFB Missouri. For 27 minutes the radar tracked two groups of objects (one group with 8-12 objects and a second one with 6-8 objects). The objects came in high at 95,000 feet and then dipped to 23,000 and were lost. Later another group was picked up and those 6-8 were at 100,000 feet but were soon lost to weather. They radar was blamed, and the case was labeled "possible weather conditions affecting radar returns." These might have been F-104's - at the time one new incarnations was the hot new thing being developed - and soon they would be deployed to Taiwan. As one source said, they would just set people down and let them watch the radar screen and be awed by what they saw.
- September 20 was an almost repeat of what had occurred on the 17th with three groups this time. This too was noted as "probable weather conditions." Given it was at an Air Force Base, one has to wonder if there were "visitors" at the time who might have been given a preview of the potential of a new craft.
-23 September 1960 at Bitberg AFB, Germany at 0119z came a report with the source noted as "MOONDUST", a satellite re-entry. Reported was one object moving SW to NE. A luminous streak, like a shooting star, colors red and yellow, left a trail. Appeared suddenly and was red in color then changed to yellow, disappeared briefly and reappeared much larger than a meteor. The conclusion was that the object "conforms to satellite re-entry, descent and duration, color and breaking up. 1960 LAMDA II Rocket body, re-entered this date. "Based on general description evaluation as satellite re-entry." This was another USSR launch experiement and carried living organisms, including small mammals: "Sputnik 5 was launched on 19 August 1960 at 8:38 UT from Baikonur Cosmodrome into a roughly 306 x 340 km (190 x 211 mile) altitude orbit with a period of 90.7 minutes and an inclination of 64.7 degrees. The cabin re-entered the atmosphere after 17 orbits on 20 August 1960. Recovery was successful. The Sputnik 5 rocket body (1960 Lambda 2) re-entered on 23 September 1960."NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details
-the 24 Sept 1960 report at Coos Bay, OR of a large green and yellow parachute falling with a cylindrical or rectangle box. The object falling with the chute was 9-10 feet long. The area was heavily wooded. The fall was observed via a 30x set of binoculars and place estimated to be 8 miles southeast of Coos Bay, OR. A helicopter overflew the area on the 25-26 but had negative results. The conclusion was " observation of known object - parachute."
- the 27 Sept 1960, Aurora, CO. Six objects seen for about 30 second. Round, red or maroon objects, size of a pea. Had a "V" formation that then split apart into a straight line. Faded slowly into the south.
-the 30th of September 1960, Kansas City, Missouri. A round, luminous object the size of a baseball to a basketball, had the appearance of a bright star (this apparently means its color and brightness). Objected reported from Wichita and Topeka in Kansas, Kansas City , Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska. No one knew the source of any high altitude weather balloons moving on a NE course. A local weatherman was one witness. Source of balloon, if it was that, they were unable to confirm as none of the launches matched.
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