As real? Who knows for sure? All I can say is that while stationed at Nellis AFB our satellite station at Indian Springs called in a UFO report with azimuth and elevation angles. I set up the theodolite and picked up the object. I looked like a white ball, perfectly round and not the normal shape of a weather balloon. We watched it for about an hour when it shot upward at great speed and disappeared in the distance. Upon checking there were no special high altitude balloon runs and frankly, balloons as not perfectly round as this thing was. Weather balloons have an elongated teardrop shape. I've tracked enough of those things over 30 years in weather to know the difference. So what was it? Damned if I know. The rent into the Air Force's "Blue Book".
Paul B.
In 1989 I was working on a test at NTS ( Contact) , and we had a short day so we went to Vegas for chow and entertainment. On the way back to Desert Rock, around midnight, we saw maybe 10 white balls in the area north of Indian Springs that probably extended up to Area 51, it might have been east of Area 51 proper. We stopped on the side of the road and watched them for probably 15 minutes and they seemed to not move. Folks the next day at NTS said it was probably balloons.
They sure looked odd to us, our first thoughts were they were related to area 51, But the locals said they do this for pilot training?
