Report on Conversations with Soviet Scientists on Subject of Unidentified Flying Objects in the USSR

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

3. At the UFO question, little interest is shown in the UFO question. They questioned that he and several other astronomers had been out in the countryside one evening and had seen a curious, reddish object flashing through the sky that they were convinced was neither a satellite nor a meteorite. However, their immediate interpretation was that this object might have been a fragment of a satellite or rocket returning from orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. They thought that UFO's had been seen in the BSSR but he could not be specific as to locations and characteristics.

6. At the time of this report, again little interest was shown. One of the astronomers, Mr. Hewitt, was with the group mentioned by Mr. and confirmed the observation of a peculiar object. He did not discuss the experience in detail but clearly had been struck by the possibility that the object might have been a "baucer."

7. At the time of publication there was considerable interest. The institute includes a number of research presided over by Dr. Menzel. However, the initial discussion of the problem was with the director of the institute. He too had read Menzel's book, but considered it an adequate treatment of the subject which he consequently felt was closed. He indicated that no observations of CFD's had been made by his staff and that they had received no reports of such observations. However, when the proceedings to indicate the results of McDonald's critical study of the problem, he readily conceded that there might be more to it and concluded by stating that it was "clearly still an open question."

8. Another astronomer warned that in the northern part of Kazakhstan there had been repeated sightings of hall lightning. He had sent a team out to investigate and discovered that what was being seen were reflections of automobile headlights from an laveron layer.

9. Later, a discussion was held with He was not very impressed with Menzel's book, but was also not impressed with the significance of the phenomenon. It is possible that some interest was kindled that might lead to additional investigations.

10. A stellar spectroscopist was also interested in this problem. She was also classified with Menzel's book and felt that there was definitely an opportunity for additional research.

11. The general feeling one gets is that no official treatment of the UFO problem has been given in the USSR. Instead people refer to the US work, principall' Menzel's book, to demonstrate the absence of real scientific problems. At the same time, there is an almost universal awareness of the history and characteristics of the phenomenon often associated with considerable interest. The result is that a demonstration of the inadequacy of US Official explanations coupled with some proof of the reality of the observations might excite enthusiasm more rapidly among Soviet astronomers than among their US counterparts who are more strongly influenced by the official ridicule associated with UFO's in the US.