Project Blue Book Case #1485. On July 18, 1952, an unidentified object was observed over Patrick Air Force Base on Florida's Cape Canaveral coast — the headquarters of the Air Force Missile Test Center, which oversaw all rocket and missile launches from the Cape. Patrick AFB controlled the Eastern Test Range, the launch corridor stretching southeast over the Atlantic where America's most advanced missiles and, within a decade, its space launches would take place.
Patrick's personnel included some of the most technically sophisticated observers in the military — missile engineers, range safety officers, and tracking specialists who routinely monitored objects traveling at thousands of miles per hour. Their inability to identify this object was therefore highly significant.
July 18, 1952, was the day before the first Washington, D.C., radar events. The great wave was at maximum intensity. The case was classified "Unknown" — a troubling designation from the nerve center of America's emerging missile and space program.