Incident · 15 September 1964 · Big Sur, California (launch from Vandenberg AFB)
Big Sur Atlas missile incident
In September 1964, Lt. Robert Jacobs commanded an Air Force photo-optical team on a mountaintop near Big Sur, California, filming an Atlas missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base with a dummy nuclear warhead through a powerful telescope camera.
Jacobs says the developed film showed a disc-shaped object approach the warhead at high altitude, circle it, fire four beams of light at it and send it tumbling out of flight. He first published the account in 1982, and Maj. Florenz Mansmann, his superior, supported it in a 1987 letter.
Kingston George, an engineer on the project, disputed the account in 1993 and 2009, arguing that the film showed the deployment of decoy warheads and chaff designed to confuse enemy defences.
Sources: Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed Lt. Robert Jacobs led a photo-optical team on a mountaintop near Big Sur, using a high-powered Boston University telescope camera to track an Atlas missile test carrying a dummy nuclear warhead. — Robert Jacobs Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
- claimed Jacobs says the developed film showed a disc-shaped object at about 60 miles altitude. It circled the warhead at around 8,000 mph and fired four beams of light at it, sending it tumbling out of flight. — Robert Jacobs Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
Connected files
Incidents
- Vandenberg “Red Square” incident (same base as) — Both at Vandenberg
People
- Robert Jacobs (witnesses)
Places
- Vandenberg Space Force Base (occurred at) — The 1964 Atlas missile was launched from Vandenberg