Possible Space Objects: Airgrams from Tokyo (1966) and Monterrey (1967)
Two cover airgrams show the State Department routing possible space-object reports to its science office and NASA: a Japanese press story about sightings at Nemuro, and a Mexican mayor's letter about an object that fell.
What this record is
This page covers two one-page Department of State airgrams from the National Security Agency’s files. The National Archives catalogs them separately. They belong together because each one is a covering note that sent a report of a possible space object to Washington, and in each case the report itself was not scanned with it.
The first is airgram A-1356, marked Limited Official Use, from the American Embassy in Tokyo to the Department “For SCI,” the science office, with a copy to the Consulate in Sapporo. It is dated 18 May 1966 and signed by Ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer. Its subject is “Sighting of object possibly originating from space vehicle” (catalog 596347901).
The second is airgram A-41, unclassified, from the American Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico, to the Department, with a copy to the Embassy in Mexico City. It is dated 17 February 1967. Its subject is “Report of unidentified object which fell near Municipio of General Teran, N.L.” (catalog 596347907).
What it says
The Tokyo airgram refers to two earlier messages. One was a Department instruction, CW-9986 of 14 June 1962; the other was an Embassy telegram, 3905. It encloses the press item that the telegram had mentioned. According to the airgram, the story first appeared in the Japanese-language Yomiuri in its evening edition of 10 May, and an English translation ran in the paper’s morning edition of 11 May. “As far as we are aware, no other papers have discussed the Nemuro observations.” The Embassy then asked a question of its own: “Since the Department’s instruction requesting information of this sort is quite old, we would appreciate being informed whether telegraphic notification is still desired in cases such as this where the validity of the observations seem dubious.”
The Monterrey airgram answers a Department telegram and an earlier consulate message. It reads in full: “There is attached for forwarding to NASA a translation of a letter, and its enclosure, from the mayor of General Teran to the Private Secretary of the Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon regarding an unidentified object which fell near the town of General Teran on February 7, 1967.” The enclosures listed are a translation of the mayor’s letter of 16 February 1967 and a translation of a memorandum attached to it. The file does not contain them.
Context
These two notes show a routine side of the government’s UFO paperwork that is easy to overlook. The Tokyo note shows that the Department had sent posts an instruction in June 1962 asking for information of this sort, and that it was still in force four years later. The Monterrey item was destined for NASA, the agency best placed to identify space hardware. Reports went through the Department’s science office, not through intelligence channels. At least in Tokyo, the posts sometimes found the procedure tiresome when the sighting itself looked doubtful.
Neither airgram describes what was seen or found. The Nemuro report, from the town at the eastern tip of Hokkaido, is known here only as a newspaper story that the Ambassador’s staff thought dubious. The General Terán object is described only as something that “fell near the town.” Without the enclosures, there is nothing to evaluate. Both notes show that officials thought first of man-made space hardware, not of anything stranger. That was the usual assumption in the busy launch years of the mid-1960s. For a case where debris was actually recovered and analysed, see the Congo fragment report.
Status
Undetermined. The substantive enclosures are missing from both files. Both airgrams reached the National Archives in 2025 as part of the NSA transfer.
Sources
- National Archives catalog entry, Tokyo airgram of 18 May 1966: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/596347901
- PDF of the Tokyo airgram: https://catalog.archives.gov/medialz/electronic-records/rg-615/580103959/457UAP00008_released.pdf
- National Archives catalog entry, Monterrey airgram of 17 February 1967: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/596347907
- PDF of the Monterrey airgram: https://catalog.archives.gov/medialz/electronic-records/rg-615/580103959/457UAP00011_released.pdf
- Series: Records from the National Security Agency Relating to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/580103959