Nasa under pressure over 'UFO'

2005-12-09 12:51

Pittsburgh - Researchers and witnesses who believe a unidentified flying object (UFO), landed in the woods of western Pennsylvania 40 years ago are marking another anniversary on Friday: two years since a lawsuit was filed to get Nasa to release records of what happened.

A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) spokesperson says there's no cover-up - the "UFO" was a Russian satellite, but government records documenting it have been lost.

Leslie Kean, an investigative reporter backed by the Sci-Fi Channel, and a group connected to the cable TV station sued Nasa two years ago under the Freedom of Information Act.

Kean wants files on what happened December 9 1965, in the unincorporated hamlet of Kecksburg, about 48km southeast of Pittsburgh.

Witnesses described a "fireball" in the evening sky, and a metallic, acorn-shaped object about 4-4.5m high and 2-4m in diameter that landed gently in the woods, according to media accounts at the time.

Bid to jumpstart search

Kean's attorney Lee Helfrich said she'll file a new court motion on Friday seeking to "jumpstart" Nasa's search for the information.

"Nasa has been stonewalling for too long, and in the process has given us a great record to show that it's recalcitrant and acting in bad faith," Helfrich said. "What is Nasa trying to hide?"

Nothing, Nasa spokesperson Dave Steitz said.

The object appeared to be a Russian satellite that re-entered the atmosphere and broke up.

Nasa experts studied fragments from the object, but records of what they found were lost in the 1990s, Steitz said.

'Findings were misplaced'

"As a rule, we don't track UFOs. What we could do, and what we apparently did as experts in spacecraft in the 1960s, was to take a look at whatever it was and give our expert opinion," Steitz said. "We did that, we boxed (the case) up and that was the end of it. Unfortunately, the documents supporting those findings were misplaced."

Kean and Helfrich don't believe that explanation.

Kean said Nicholas L Johnson, Nasa's chief scientist for orbital debris, determined the object couldn't be a Russian satellite or any other manmade object, after studying the orbital paths of known satellites and other records from 1965.

Johnson didn't immediately return calls for comment on Thursday to his phone number listed on Nasa's website.

Steitz referred questions on Kean's claims to Nasa's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, which didn't immediately comment.

Witnesses claim military personnel cordoned off the site, removed the object and threatened residents who questioned the incident.

The military later called the object a meteor.

On Saturday, Kean, Helfrich and others connected to a Sci Fi Channel documentary will speak at the Kecksburg fire hall, where a mock-up of the object is on permanent display.

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- AP