Case File · AARO · Cold War Sightings (1953-1969) Declassified May 8, 2026 · PURSUE Release 01

1958 UAP Sighting — AARO Records (D213P4)

UFO Visual Sighting

Explorer 1 was the first U.S. satellite successfully launched into orbit in January 1958, marking a significant milestone in the Space Race.

January 1958
Unknown location
Source document: PURSUE doc 213
Source document: PURSUE doc 213 · Source: declassified document

Background

A UFO/UAP incident extracted from page 4 of aaro historical record vol1 2024, an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) document published in 2024-2025. The incident is dated January 1958 and located in Unknown location.

What the document records

Explorer 1 was the first U.S. satellite successfully launched into orbit in January 1958, marking a significant milestone in the Space Race.

Witnesses on file: not specified in the released document.

Status of the case

The page-level assessment recorded in the document is: no agency assessment. AARO designates unresolved cases as those for which the agency has not concluded the events were anomalous, has not concluded they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. Conventional candidates for sightings of recent periods include drones, classified test platforms, satellite re-entry, balloon traffic, atmospheric optical phenomena, and astronomical objects.

Sources