Project Blue Book Case #10262. On March 22, 1966, an unidentified object was observed over Houston, Texas — home since 1961 to NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center), the nerve center of America's human spaceflight program. The Gemini program was in full swing, with astronauts training for missions that would pave the way for the Apollo lunar landings.
Houston's significance to this case extends beyond NASA. Ellington Air Force Base (now Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base), adjacent to the Manned Spacecraft Center, served as the base for the astronauts' T-38 training jets. The city's petrochemical industry generated significant helicopter and fixed-wing traffic, and Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush Intercontinental) was one of the busiest in the South.
March 1966 was at the beginning of the explosive spring wave that would generate national headlines with the Michigan "swamp gas" controversy. Reports were accelerating across the country, and Houston's contribution came just one day before the Temple, Oklahoma, landed-craft case.
The object over Houston could not be identified as any NASA, military, or civilian aircraft operating in the area. The irony of an unidentified flying object appearing over the facility responsible for sending Americans into space was not lost on investigators. Several NASA astronauts had privately reported sightings during their careers, and the Houston case added to the connection between the space program and the UFO phenomenon.
The case was classified "Unknown."