There are 3 threads on this topic - would be nice to have them all pulled into one thread since there is good information on all three threads - hint! hint!
though that would be in keeping with the established pattern.
I came across this article in my news feed - wondering if anyone has any updates on the matter.
TEXT: "The Heavens abound with no shortage of weirdness, mystery and wonder and despite intense scrutiny there is a dearth of solid, factual information; fantastic speculation isn’t going to stop any time soon and that suits your Humble Narrator just fine.
"Who wants to get weird?
"Beginning in the mid-fifties (though some reports claim the 1940’s and
certain weird rumors assert that Tesla himself discovered something strange back in the latter days of the 19th century) a curious phenomenon manifested itself in the heart and minds of a population’s budding fascination with Unidentified Flying Objects — the discovery of an unknown satellite in Polar Orbit, possibly broadcasting something to unknown agencies allegedly before humans had the technology to accomplish such a feat.
"Needless to say, with the Cold War raging accusations and suspicious abounded.
"According to
TIME magazine on Monday, March 07, 1960:
Three weeks ago, headlines announced that the U.S. had detected a mysterious “dark” satellite wheeling overhead on a regular orbit. There was nervous speculation that it might be a surveillance satellite launched by the Russians, and it brought the uneasy sensation that the U.S. did not know what was going on over its own head. But last week the Department of Defense proudly announced that the satellite had been identified. It was a space derelict, the remains of an Air Force Discoverer satellite that had gone astray.
"But in 1954 both the St. Louis Dispatch and San Francisco Examiner (see image, below) raised the question of whether or not there was something up there six years before the first successful launch of a Polar Orbit Satellite. [see link for newspaper insert]
"And on August 23, 1954 the magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology wrote:
Pentagon scare over the observance of two previously unobserved satellites orbiting the earth has dissipated with the identification of the objects as natural, not artificial satellites. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, expert on extraterrestrial bodies from the University of New Mexico, headed the identification project. One satellite is orbiting about 400 miles out, while the other track is 600 miles from the earth. Pentagon thought momentarily the Russians had beaten the U.S. to space explorations. [see link for picture insert]
"According to
Ancient-Code.com, an Ancient Astronauts Theory website:
Interest in the Black Knight was higher each year, in 1957, an unknown “object” was seen “shadowing” the Sputnik 1 Spacecraft. According to reports, the “unidentified object” was in Polar orbit, at that time The United Stated nor the Russians possessed the technology to maintain a spacecraft in Polar Orbit. According to our research the first Polar orbiting satellite was launched in 1960. Polar orbits are often used for earth-mapping, earth observation, capturing the earth as time passes from one point and reconnaissance satellites. This would put the Black Knight in the category of a observational Satellite, the only question here is, who placed The Black Knight in a polar orbit and for what purpose?
The Object continued to amaze Astronomers World Wide. In the 1960’s the Black Knight was located once again in Polar Orbit. Astronomers and Scientists calculated the objects weight to be over 10 tons which would be at that time the Heaviest Artificial Satellite to orbit our Planet. The Black Knight’s orbit was unlike any other object orbiting Earth, as it was moving twice as fast when compared to any other man-made Spacecrafts.
There are also several reports that the Grumman Aircraft Corporation gave much importance to this mysterious “Satellite”, On September 3, 1960, seven months after the satellite was first detected by radar, a tracking camera at Grumman Aircraft Corporation’s Long Island factory took a photograph of the Black Knight. At that point people all over the world started identifying the object in the sky, which could be seen as a red light moving at higher speed compared to other satellites in a East to West orbit. The Grumman Aircraft Corporation formed a committee to study the data received from the observations made but nothing was made public.
In 1963, Gordon Cooper was launched into space. On his final orbit, he reported seeing a glowing green object in front of his capsule in the distance moving towards his Spacecraft. The Muchea tracking station, in Australia, which Cooper reported the object to, picked up this Unidentified object on Radar travelling East to West. NBC reported this but after Cooper returned to Earth, the Reporter were not allowed to ask Cooper about the unidentified object. The official explanation given to Coopers sighting were “high levels of carbon dioxide, which caused hallucinations“.
"The Wikipedia entry for the
Black Knight is short and sweet and contains the Official Story:
The satellite mystery originated in 1954 when newspapers including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the San Francisco Examiner ran stories attributed to retired naval aviation major and
UFO researcher
Donald Keyhoe saying that the US Air Force had reported that two satellites orbiting Earth had been detected. At this time no one had the technology to launch a satellite
[2]
In February 1960 there was a further report that the US Navy had detected a dark, tumbling object in an orbit inclined at 79° from the equator with an
orbital period of 104.5 minutes. Its orbit was also highly eccentric with an
apogee of 1,728 km (1,074 mi) and a
perigee of only 216 km (134 mi). At the time the Navy was tracking a fragment of casing from the
Discoverer VIII satellite launch which had a very similar orbit.
[2][3]
An object photographed in 1998 during the
STS-88 mission has been widely claimed to be this “alien artifact”. However, it is more probable that the photographs are of a thermal blanket that had been lost during an
EVA.
[1]
"Whew, it was just a weather balloon thermal blanket. I’m glad we got that settled. Clumsy astronauts!
This is totally coming out of your allowance."
though that would be in keeping with the established pattern.