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This Project Blue Book file on the Socorro, New Mexico sighting of 24 April 1964 compiles an Air Force record card and a large set of press clippings. The clippings cover policeman Lonnie Zamora's report of an egg-shaped object with four landing marks and scorched brush, plus J. Allen Hynek's investigation and follow-up reports from La Madera, Edgewood and elsewhere. An Air Force summary says soil and brush analysis found no foreign material, radiation or propellant, that the case remains open, and that later related sightings were explained or found to be hoaxes.
“New Mexico State Police”25 pages
A163XX- FIRST LEAD LITTLE JOE（270） BY HAROLD R. WILLIAMS WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. MAY 13 (AP) - THE FIERY EXPLOSION OF A LITTLE JOE II ROCKET SHATTERED THE EARLY MORNING CALM TODAY IN A TEST OF THE APOLLO MOON SPACECRAFT LAUNCH ESCAPE SYSTEM. EARLY INDICATIONS FROM NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS WERE THAT THE TEST, THE FIRST OF FIVE OF THE APOLLO ESCAPE SYSTEM, WAS SUCCESSFUL. IT HAD BEEN DELAYED 24 HOURS BECAUSE OF WINDS A DUST STORM YESTERDAY. LITTLE JOE II BLASTED INTO THE SKY ABOUT 6 A.M. (MST) FROM A CLOUD OF DUST CAUSED BY THE ROCKET'S SEVEN SOLID FUEL ENGINES, GENERATING MORE THAN 300,000 POUNDS OF THRUST. CLIMBING TO 22,000 FEET ALTITUDE IN ABOUT 30 SECONDS, THE 85-FOOT TALL VEHICLE STACKED WITH BOILERPLATE MODELS OF THE APOLO COMMAND AND SERVICE MODULES, REACHED A MAXIMUM AERODYNAMIC STRESS PERIOD AT THE TIME OF THE EXPLOSION THAT WAS SET OFF BY GROUND SIGNAL. AT THE SAME INSTANT, EXPLOSIVE BOLTS SEPARATED THE COMMAND MODULE FROM THE DISINTEGRATING ROCKET AND THE 155,000-POUND THRUST ESCAPE ROCKET FIRED, CARRYING THE COMMAND MODULE ANOTHER 4,000 FEET HIGHER. ABOUT 7 1/2 MINUTES AFTER THE FIRING, THE COMMAND MODULE, SUSPENDED BY PARACHUTES, FLOATED TO THE DESERT FLOOR ABOUT FIVE MILES FROM THE LAUNCH SITE. A NASA SPOKESMAN SAID THE ONLY APPARENT TROUBLE WAS THAT ONE OF THE THREE 88-FOOT DIAMETER RING PARACHUTES ATTACHED TO THE COMMAND MODULE BROKE AWAY FROM THE CAPSULE SOON AFTER THEY OPENED AT 7,500 FEET ALTITUDE. EARLIER, NASA OFFICIALS HAD SAID TWO PARACHUTES COULD BRING THE CAPSULE DOWN SAFELY. WATCHING TODAY'S TEST FROM A BLOCKHOUSE NEAR THE LAUNCH SITE WERE ASTRONAUTS LT. CMDR. CHARLES CONRAD, LT. CMDR. JAMES A. LOVELL, MAJ. GORDON COOPER, CMDR. ALAN SHEPARD JR., AND DONALD SLAYTON. (NO PICKUP)
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