(NICAP.org)
The whole UFO case report:
“Fran Ridge:
August 25, 1960; Grumman Aviation; Bethpage, New York
The National Space Surveillance Control Center, Air
Force command and control development division, attempted to work out an orbit
for a strange object reported several times. But the scientists had only one
solid observation to go on, – the photographing of the object by Grumman
Aviation Engineering Corp. at Bethpage, N.Y. I remember reading our preliminary
report in the NICAP U.F.O. Investigator back in 1961, and later seeing the
article and a picture in LIFE or LOOK. This report has the Grumman report I was
able to obtain a zerox copy of from Loy Pressley in June of 2002 which he had obtained
a few years prior from Jan Aldrich. Mike Swords later provided the best image,
a scanned version of Hynek’s original *.
Joel Carpenter:
I have a copy of the Grumman satellite report, and I
ran it by a guy who is a former CIA consultant on military satellite technology
(Allen Thomson). He said that the data in the Grumman report don’t add up to a
real orbit, so he didn’t know what to make of it. It seems that there was
something fishy about the Grumman object, whatever it was.
Brad Sparks:
The Grumman object was in retrograde orbit,
inclination angle to the equator about 135 degrees. It would not show up on the
next expected orbits every time. Grumman put together a contract proposal to
the AF to conduct an investigation. I have not found any satellites launched in
an inclination of about 135 degs, not because it’s physically impossible but wasteful
as it goes against the Earth’s rotational boost into orbit. Best possibility of
explanation is a Soviet Luna probe or upper stage that looped back around the
earth but on the wrong side into retrograde orbit. But that would be
extraordinarily lucky, extremely difficult to do even by design. Impossible to
have been the Discoverer 5’s polar orbiting Agena upper stage fired in the
wrong direction or any polar orbiting Discoverer (CIA Corona). Flatout absolute
physical impossibility total nonsense and hogwash. Cannot have enough propellant
to go off at 45 degrees. You would have to have another Atlas or Thor first
stage up there to do that.”
Satellite photo of Bethpage, New York (tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)
