Kecksburg UFO Incident - Cosmos 96

Cosmos 96

There had been some speculation (e.g. NASA's James Oberg) that the object in the Kecksburg Incident may have been debris from Cosmos 96, a Soviet satellite. Cosmos 96 had a bell- or acorn-like shape similar to the object reported by eyewitnesses (though much smaller than witnesses reported).

However, in a 1991 report, US Space Command concluded that Cosmos 96 crashed in Canada at 3.18am on December 9, 1965, about 13 hours before the fireball thought to be the Kecksburg object undergoing re-entry was recorded at 4.45pm.

In addition, in a 2003 interview Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris at the NASA Johnson Space Center Nicholas L. Johnson stated:

I can tell you categorically, that there is no way that any debris from Cosmos 96 could have landed in Pennsylvania anywhere around 4:45 p.m. That’s an absolute. Orbital mechanics is very strict.