Philip Moore's Atlas missile site sighting
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
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| Date | Late 1964 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Military encounters (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Philip Moore, Robert Hastings |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 67 |
| Year | 1964 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1964 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 4 |
Philip E. Moore, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, described a late-1964 incident at an Atlas missile site near Roswell, New Mexico, in which his crew reported a silent light hovering over neighbouring launch sites. His account was recorded in 2005 and published by researcher Robert Hastings.[1]
The incident
Moore was then a first lieutenant and deputy missile combat crew commander with the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron at Walker Air Force Base, on duty at Site 7. Late one night his crew, under crew commander Maj. Dan Gilbert, reported a light that hovered over Sites 6 and 8 and moved rapidly between them, with instant starts and stops and no sound.[1]
What Moore saw
Moore did not see the light himself: by the time his turn came to go up to the surface, it was over. He said the crew was never debriefed or warned against discussing it, and that the event seemed to be ignored above crew level. He said he personally believed there was something to the UFO–ICBM connection.[1]
The squadron
The 579th operated Atlas F missiles in underground silos scattered around Roswell from the early 1960s until the system was retired in 1965.[1][2]
Context
Hastings has gathered many such accounts from former missile and weapons personnel for his book UFOs and Nukes, and in September 2010 presented six former Air Force witnesses at the National Press Club in Washington.[3] Moore's account was given about four decades after the event, and no official report of it has been released.[1]
People and topics
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Philip Moore — Atlas launch officer at Walker AFB who described a UFO near his capsule.
- Roswell Army Air Field — The bomber base at Roswell, home of the 509th Bomb Group in 1947.
- Robert Hastings — Researcher who has collected accounts of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites, author of UFOs and Nukes.
- Roswell — The New Mexico town at the center of the 1947 crash story.
- UFOs and Nukes — Robert Hastings's book on UFOs at nuclear sites.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
On the Timeline
- Fort Riley incident (1964) (10 December 1964) — A Fort Riley guard says soldiers were marched toward a large object lit by a helicopter.
- Martin Marietta engineer's papers (1965) (17 May 1965) — Jacques Vallée says a Martin Marietta engineer was upset when his papers were seen.
See every 1964 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Three former U.S. Air Force ICBM launch officers speak out about UFOs", UFOs & Nukes (Robert Hastings, Oct 2013) · ufohastings.com · archived copy
- 579th Strategic Missile Squadron site locations — AtlasMissileSilo.com · atlasmissilesilo.com · archived copy
- "UFOs visited nuclear weapons sites, former Air Force officers say", History News Network (Sept 2010) · historynewsnetwork.org · archived copy
- ufohastings.com · ufohastings.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFOs and the Air Force: records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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