.. IRllll,f!IM!IIIIIII 

THE NRO STAFF 

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Jllf NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

May 19, 1971 

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD 

SUBJECT: Visit to Congressman Mark Andrews 

At the request of SAFLL I accompanied a group to 

Congressman Mark Andrews 1 office on May 18. The purpose 

of the meeting was to advise Congressman Andrews as to 

the origin of two items of space debris which had been 

recovered on a North Dakota fann. Several objects had 

fallen onto North Dakota soil over a 50 mile track sometime between April 10 and April 15. Two items were sent 

directly to the Congressman by one of the farmers with 

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BYEMAN 

------ ------ --------- --- ------·the-- understanding that the farmer would be assured of being 

able to retain possession following the conclusion of any 

necessary investigations. 

The other members of the party included Major ~--~ SAFLL, Mr. Ed Butler and Captain ==~----~ both of FTD and Captainl_ ______ _J SAFOI. 

In Mr. Andrews 1 office it was ascertained by the FTD 

people that the two objects, both cold gas spheres, one 

about 53 inches in circumference and the other about 18 

inches in circumference, were of U. S. origin. Congressman 

Andrews was interested in obtaining information about the 

nature of the spacecraft so that he could satisfactorily 

------------------------- --------------re-spond to his constituents. Although this event had not 

received wire-service coverage, the local papers have been 

giving it much attention. A Fargo, N. D. article is 

attached. 

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BYEMAN 'fBP 9ECRE'f <XCLUOEO 'ROM •VTOl<•llC •eo••OINC. 

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Mr. Andrews has been briefed on our program as a 

member of the House Appropriations Committee. The Committee 

Staff Chairman was contacted informally by the NRO Staff 

prior to our visit and apprised of the fact that the mission 

of the spacecraft, if it were of U.S. origin, was likely a 

sensitive one. Mr. Andrews apparently took this fact into 

account for he stated that his desires were not to impinge 

on any classified areas but, by the same token, was in a 

position where he had to provide his constituents as much 

information as possible. 

After FTD had stated with high assurance that the 

spheres were indeed of U.S. origin and following a brief 

picture taking session of Congressman Andrews, his staff 

and the spheres, Congressman Andrews asked me, off to the 

side, if I would be able to provide him with a briefing on 

the nature of the mission. I offered to provide him a 

broad description of the mission in private. After excusing 

the others from the room Congressman Andrews and I discussed 

broadly the nature of the photographic mission from which we 

suspect the spheres emanated. We are fairly certain since 

thf'- ...spheres are of U.S. origin that they come from CORONA 

Mission 1114. That mission was launched on March 24 and was 

tracked in decay by NORAD on April 12. It was predicted to 

impact in northern Canada. Congressman Andrews expressed 

an appreciation for protecting the nature of our program and 

stated that he understood the difficulty encountered in 

responding to his request. I offered to provide him with 

as much information as possible about the Agena vehicle and 

assured him that we would respond to his request with all 

possible haste. 

During the course of our informal conversation, he 

let it be known that he was extremely sympathetic to the 

military having attended West Point himself. He confided 

that __ his real problem was one of pacifying his opposition 

in North Dakota so as not to undermine his support of the 

SAFEGUARD program for the North Dakota area. 

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I candidly expressed to him in private that occurrences 

of this nature are infrequent but that they are also finitely 

probable and with this system in particular there was no 

practical way to eliminate inadvertent failure to burn up 

upon re-entry. He expressed his understanding of this 

situation. I went on to explain that this particular program 

was coming to a close and that other similarly oriented mission 

vehicles are not quite as uncontrolled in terms of re-entry 

characteristics as is this vehicle. 

In surrnnary of our private conversation, I found 

Congressman Andrews to be extremely appreciative of the 

sensitivity of the situation and, on the surface~ extremely 

supportive of our efforts and of the need to protect the 

secrecy of the reconnaissance activity. 

Subsequent to the visit to Mr. Andrews' office, I 

agreed with SAFLL that we would provide the requested 

information through their channels to the Congressman. 

In summary, this situation could have been an extremely 

ticklish one if Congressman Andrews had not been already 

b1:-ie-fed on the program. However, as it turned out, I feel 

that it was a highly satisfactory meeting, although somewhat 

like a Max Sennett comedy with the experts using the 

Congressman's office as a Metals Laboratory and the attempts 

at "overplaying11 the situation by SAFLL and the Congressman's 

administrative staff. 

I have contacted SAFSP to enlist their aid in supplementing our Unclassified Agena data in order to assist in the 

formulation of the paper for Mr. Andrews. 

1 Attachment 

Newspaper Article 

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HAROLD S. COYLE, JR, 

Major, USAF 

i8P SE6RE:r 

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SH:1111:1 

IOA 3US3N 

stery Bulls, 

PuzzleN.D. 

-·communities 

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By CHET GEBERT 

f, _ , Staff Writ.er .. ,,, · OAKES,1 ~- :0. - Two identical, round metal objects 

'found four d3;i11nd JU)l.e miles apart in farm fields near here 

are posing something of a mystery for residents around this 

southeastern North Dakota community. Each is 53· L,ches in circumference - about two times 

more than a basketball's out.side measurement, even more 

: ·voJunrow:1111 - and each bas t1ttings indicating its use was to . coiitatn a-g~ or liquid at one tlme. Both weigh in excess of. 

·, · ·

21 

~cal bandings· or ~aybe remnants of painted stripe! 

lhOW on their charred outside surfaces. - 1 • 

· >vtdence ,of· having been exposed to ' ' ~ 

, . of one ll•s a· five-Inch t11ardeter 

i,,Jtole wttlLuneven. edgea gtvinJ an ·appeal'ance that i:ufftclent , 

\ .. heat came frotn _1nsi~ to melt the metal, which Is iibout 3⁄4 . Inch tliJck. : 

Thlli ball'~ interior surface is discolored to an off-white in 

the area surrounding the intact threaded fitting opposite the 

holC, About a two-inch long Section of broken pipe % to 1⁄4 

inch in diameter extends outside the ball from the fitting. 

·./-.•A.fitting on·one end ot the other ball appears to be 

·simply a plug, On the other €nd, mOSt of the fitting haS been 

bUrned or ~elted away; it has ~e appearance of bronze. , The hall with the burnea-out holC has two breaks in U. 

Neither break: shows any sign of heat like the inside and 

outside 1urraces, and the met'al at thEi breaks is clean. 

• W.tiere did the spheres come from? What were they IL'lCd 

tao'( , .• , ·. ~-;JIN about ·us many guesses as- there are people 

1 aro·und]18l'e7'~ch is about aa good or unt:ounded a~ the next. ·< · Did ~y .ttlme from SOme-space shot? ' · .. MAY®. ,bitt space hardware usually burns to an ash on · · l'MJltt7 ,itd:o" or passage through the ·atmosphere at ltlgh !;..:. . ,c • .Ji 

,, : Ba,sketball shows comparable size with ti 

,----~-,;,•· 

speed, And, Dake&, 11/.D., ls far out of the usual overhead 

path of space filghU - unless tllero wa11 an unannounced. 

errant Olght: 

Did the. :Objects, fall away from som·e ulrplatw? Maybe a -

military plane? North Dakota .Air National .Guard mechanlcs at Hector 

Airport, Fal'go, and an officer at Malm:strom Air Force Base 

at,Great Falls, Mfmt.,>sa,- military craft have hydraulic and '[· $ 

I oxygen equipment similar to the, balls. But they discard the 1/ 

: idea that thl! sph~res could have come ·from an aircraft '.+m 

!light . . j_, · )/'"'.,.,,,.,,.. , 

\ 

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Approved for Rele"ase: 20,22102/1()CQ513.4212 'Bl'i"'aitmtft, ··\ .. ~.,ld· sure as ,-

~ll know tt,'' uid Lt. Col w: E. Phel~n'qf Pltrgo, a m;,ANG 1·.,_· 

qperatioris -0tfl_cer. _ · , , . . ' ; .. , · · __ , •j · .- Maj. Dwayne M. Shackleton,· alr'·-safcly· officer at' 

MalmStrom AFB, who-was in Fargo_ Wednesday night, was 

even more e:mpbatic! ;,; •· ~ '· · ''ln_ ordl!r tor· Uu~.,t !ort of thing to ·cOtne. off an airplane, 

you would have.to teartbe plane apart,' 1 bf said~· ,. __ -. And there haw·tieen no k.nown'milltary,or·J.arge aircraft 

l, crashes for miles around the pakes ·area. Or have. there? 

That leaves an unidentified flying ~bjectJ a prank or a 

! hoax. .• , · :1 

This·atea was unnerved ·a bit''somO' tbn• ·tacit when a 

• small'fai:m boy arlit-.-his mother ,niI!Orted tlie landing of a Jt ~ three-legged ~pace· Cfi¥t. ~ · i»al~nt ~evt;~ Was explf:iined 

•~ by',fi.l.r Force irtvesfigatOl's. , · "· . · . .· , - How·abOUt a prank? . 

, Ra)' NclSOn, this area1a top pfactlcal joker, was ... 11\J!pected. ·But', ~ .Oakes .area. farmer dtscialmed any 

knowledge ~--~'balli'11 -~e did,- !t_tlwev~, :ac\l:nriwledge that 

''It ffllght•,not.have, been a.\bad idea" tor 1'tni to have worked !Jlion, £ .. , \ .,., · 

it A )loiut _or publlelty stunt also were ~d after 

.i:i Ronald B.ry11timond ~ought the' firSt bau:to tpwn .. 

He S!Ud hts '8011{ Corvi,111,, 19, noticed the ball lying In a 

01 f~eld he ~as .\!01'kiilg on April 20. ~· · Many_ peisoTlll · stopped to, eJq1.mine •.'it and oner possible 

se- Sllggest10$ as to fts origin aftei- it was· p_ut on display at . Ruhn's F~ SUJ?PlY store. Doubters ~ckered at the idea 

J( that it collld have come from outer. -~ce; others asked, 

o ., ''You got a .be~r idea?'' One·possibillty_ w/iS_~at it had been 

a. , a propane ga~ t~ - but it had no evidence of handles or a 

s! ·base. ; ,'; 1 ., 

~ . , Few re~Uy iook Brummond's ball .seriously until li;felvin 

'tiichel brought Jn;.a second one_ ?fl April 24.- .. The BnnnrnQJld farm, neartCrete, .. r,l,.D.,.and, the Michel · •fann, eallt, ·bt·Oakes, are about nine, .ir- mllea apart. The 

(arms .are sJm[tilt. on a north-sotith,Jlne #'om el\ch of:her. 

MlcMI.Baid lle. had seen th!.s ball fu. a tlax fi~l,;t and had 

gone by It several times on h!S: traqor'."JithOUt 'giving It much , thought., " r ., 

"I saw it down there all spl'j.ng-but didn't bother to pick 

lt up,'' he said. "One time I ·went by;sit and· saw· the stripes· 

l:lnd thought it was a dirty beach, oan:tb?t had blown across 

thefield." · !' ,,• • 

·Then, ,men his mother, Mrs. Frincis Michel, told him 

about a strange metal ball being fOUlld' near Crete, he went , bai,.k to _the, field and hauled It back to )lis farmhOuse. 

"Then l reallied that, H lt had bten a beach ball, with 

the ~nd we've had, it would' llllve been· In Texas," Mlchel 

said~n· both lrultances, ;he farmers said ·th~e

1 

was no evidence l 

or any fire near where the bulls were foUfld; fl{elther ball was 

1

. 

tmbedded in the 1011 e\tl'Jer. : , , Both farmers bell eve the balls · ipt on their farm lnnd 

dur1n!l the winter months. · 1 , 

Brummond assumes that bis - if ,ft fell. out of the sky - was broken on Impact with tbe froz.ep. ground. M.J.chel thinks 

hill may have landed in a snowbank. · · "Wouldn't it have made Q.u1te a ·thump iUt bad hit the 

roof of the house?" Michel 11ai!i.; tp- ', ·'. · The mystery of the sph~ has deepened to the point 

that inquiries have been made of gqvernment, military and 

spa.Ce program officials in seaL'Ch ot a sure-fire explanation 

of thel.r origin. ·: ,., , In lhe meantime, the balls, tanks or whatever that would 

fit in~ide an average garbage can are on d:i~play here - Brummond's at Ruhn's Farm Supply and Michel's at the 

,,.Oakes Ti.mes,. the weekly newspaper ... 

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SAFLLI ~-----57204/Betty/May 26 

8 8 G 11171 

uear Mr. AndreW"s; 

Per your request, attached arc details pertain 

ing to the origin of the space fragments which fell 

in t,orth Pakota on hpril 12, 1971. We have endeavored 

to provide •• much unclausified information as poe · 

aihle. Since certain aspects of this rnisaion are 

claesified, ""would appreciate it if you could as 

sist in reducing speculation into the nature of the 

miaaion. Please feel free, however, to use all of 

the data provided in the attachment. 

If we can he of further usistance to you on 

this reatter, please let us know~ 

FACT SHEET 

Attachment 

honorable .Mark Andrews 

liouae of Representatives 

Sincerely, 

~--~~~~ Oolontl, USAF 

f/tmgressione.1 Inquiry Division 

Jfflce of Legis!atfve UaJso)1 

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INFORMATION FACT SHEET REGARDING ORIGIN OF SPACE 

FRAGMENTS FOUND IN NORTH DAKOTA 

Air Force metals' experts recently confirmed that the 

space fragments which fell on North Dakota in April emanated 

from an Agena spacecraft. 

The Agena is a multi-purpose vehicle designed and 

built by Lockheed Missiles and Space Company of Sunnyvale, 

California. Both the Air Force and NASA employ the Agena. 

It will be remembered that Agenas have been used by NASA 

as docking vehicles in the Gemini program to illustrate 

man's ability to perform docking maneuvers in space.· Other 

NASA related uses of the Agena have- been as a relatively 

short-lived, high-performance booster stage for satellites 

and lunar and interplanetary probes. The Air Force has used 

the Agena for self-injecting spacecraft applications for 

development of spaceflight techniques and technology. 

The identified fragments were cold-gas spheres used 

for attitude control of the spacecraft. ·The spheres were 

a part of the spacecraft launched by the Air Force's Space 

and Missiles Systems organization from Vandenberg Air Force 

Base on March 24, 1971. This vehicle carried the United 

Nations Registry Number 71-22A. The Space Defense Center 

of the North American Air Defense Command at Colorado 

• 

Springs, Colorado, identified the spacecraft as Object 5059/71 

in its tracking network. The spacecraft was tracked in decay 

by the Space Defense Center and was predicted to decay and 

burn-up on a track over Southern Canada during the mid morning 

of April 12. 

Occasionally, some of the components of a naturally 

decaying satellite fail to burn up completely upon re-entering 

the atmosphere. It has been calculated by scientists, however, 

that the chance of one of these components landing in a 

populated area and causing property damage or personal injury 

is infinitesimally small, 

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The gas spheres which fell near Oakes were a part of the 

Agena's guidance and control system, The Agena spacecraft 

consists of five functional systems: structure, propulsion, 

electrical power, guidance and control, and telemetry. Overall 

the basic vehicle is 20 feet long and 60 inches in diameter. 

The control gas spheres are mounted in the guidance and control· 

system on the aft equipment rack. The gas is used to provide 

attitude control for the spacecraft. • 

The Agena's engine is the Bell Model 8096 which is a 

turbopump-fed, dual-start, liquid bi-propellant rocket engine. 

The engine develops a rated thrust of 16,000 pounds in a 

vacuum for a period of 240 seconds, Fuel is unsymmetrical 

dimethylhydrazine; oxidizer is inhibited red-fuming nitric 

acid, 

Launch configuration includes a-first-stage or a combination of boosters which provide the velocity, attitude control, 

and discrete conmands necessary to initiate the operation of the 

Agena. At separation of the first stage, following launch, a 

pyrotechnic device releases the Agena from its booster adapter. 

Retro rockets, mounted on the booster adapter, provide the 

reverse thrust necessary to reduce the velocity of the first 

stage. As the velocity is reduced, the Agena, continuing at 

an undiminished rate, leaves the adapter~ 

When separation has been accomplished, the Agena assumes 

an appropriate attitude, ignites the main propulsion system, 

and continues through a programmed series of events. The 

programmed flight may include injection into a variety of 

earth orbits or a trajectory into space. Attitude controls 

are exercised by a combination of progranming, attitudesensing, propulsion thrust deflection or passive gas jets. 

Upon reaching the desired orbital path or space trajectory, 

the Agena may remain and function as an integral part of the 

payload, initiate payload functions and separation, or perform 

other desired activities. 

j 

Several drawings and schematic portrayals of the Agena 

spacecr~ft are furnished to illustrate the placement and 

function of the spheres which were recently identified, 

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FORWARD EQUIPMENT RACK 

--H--EQUIPMENT ACCESS DOORS 

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i---INTEGRAL PROPELLANT 

TANKS 
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